


Little Moments

by HiddenViolet



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Baking, Candles, Christmas Fluff, Cold Weather, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Kid John, Kid Sherlock, M/M, Mistletoe, Romance, Sappy, Snowed In, Tiny bit of Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-09 04:40:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 31,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12880371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenViolet/pseuds/HiddenViolet
Summary: These are my submissions for the Sherlock December Prompts. Most of them are just domestic fluff.





	1. Bundled Up

**Author's Note:**

> So most of these are Johnlock so obviously if that isn't your ship don't read. I am not British, so while I do my best to look for those little spots sometimes I miss them. If there are any that just drive you crazy go ahead and mention it and I will change it. All of these will be about 1000 words. Usually just over.
> 
> This is Day 1 - Bundled Up

John gazed out of the window in annoyance as he watched the snow spiral from the sky. It had been a fairly snow free winter so far, a near impossibility in England, and he had enjoyed the slip free sidewalks. However, It seems that Jack Frost had suddenly realized that England had been neglected as there was now a veritable blizzard beginning. 

While this was usually an excuse to get a roaring fire going and lay on the couch with Sherlock, it was currently a pain in the butt because he still had to do the shopping. They were out of milk and nearly out of anything remotely edible.

Normally that meant they would get delivery until John got up the energy to go to the shop but with the blizzard on its way, there weren’t a lot of places that would deliver and John really wanted to do some baking. He finally gave a sigh and just decided to get it over with. Sherlock was bent over an experiment and seemed to be absorbed when John started to get dressed. 

It took a minute for him to fumble with the zipper on his jacket and when John looked up it was to the sight of his lover two inches from his face. John startled back and would have lost his balance had it not been for Sherlock catching him quickly. John opened his mouth to ask what it was that Sherlock was doing and realized Sherlock’s brow was furrowed in his deep thought look and he was fingering the sleeve of the jacket. Knowing that bothering with words right now would be a waste of time John simply closed his mouth and waited for Sherlock to explain himself. 

Sherlock gazed at the jacket for a minute longer and then went back into his bedroom. John watched Sherlock leave the room for a minute with a bewildered look on his face. When Sherlock returned he was holding a package. He set the package on the coffee table and then stripped John out of his jacket. John warily went along with his lover but kept an eye on him. Sherlock opened the package and lifted out a bundle of cloth. 

He unfolded it and John realized that it was a luxurious grey wool car coat. He slid the coat up John’s arms and the doctor gave a shudder at the feeling of the detective’s warm breath against his neck. Sherlock painstakingly buttoned up the coat and then returned to the package where there were more items. He lifted out a woolen scarf in pale blue and wrapped it securely around John’s neck. Then he followed it with a grey hat that was neatly pulled over his ears. 

Sherlock took a step back and then nodded once. After that the detective turned sharply and returned to his experiment. John couldn’t help the incredulous look on his face as he realized that his lover had just gifted him a new set of winter clothes without a word or a chance to protest. The blond gave a shake of his head checked to make sure that he had his wallet and then went out to do the shopping. 

It was nearly two hours later that John returned from his trip to the shop and he was exhausted. It always seemed that when you were in your least tolerable mood was when all of the idiots were at the shop. He sighed as he put away all of the groceries, shoving aside several experiments as he did so. When he had finished Sherlock had emerged from his bedroom with a devious glint in his eye. 

He led John away from the kitchen and into the bedroom, John still fully bundled. Then he put John in front of his floor length mirror and begun to undress John. His actions were accompanied by words that had a flush spreading down John’s chest that was not from the heat of the flat. 

“You were curious as to what I was doing before you left the flat. You see, I bought these beautiful winter clothes so that you will be warm whenever you have to leave the flat this winter. It bothered me a great deal to have you shivering on my behalf so bought a set of warm stylish clothes for you. You looked dashing in them by the way. So dashing that I am sure all of the women and some of the men stared at you while you were at the shop. You are stunning.”

John was down to just his long sleeve shirt and his trousers. Even his shoes and socks had been removed. He thought that Sherlock was going to stop there, but he didn’t. 

“So I bought these clothes and I dressed you in them. One by one, reveling in the fact that I am the only person who is allowed to do this for you. To dress and undress you like a child. It pleased me to no end that I get to do this. So while you were at the shop I continued to imagine you in the clothing, arriving at home with the shopping flushed from the cold but just as handsome as could be. Then my mind slid into less innocent thoughts.”

By now the doctor had been stripped down to only his pants and he was led to the bed. Sherlock followed him in and wrapped his arms around John’s waist so that the blond was back to chest with the brunet. 

“I thought of myself stripping you down. Taking away all of your precious layers until you were bared to me completely. And here we are. I wanted nothing more for you to be in my arms and safe from everything I could imagine.”

“Sherlock where are you going with this. Are we going to have sex tonight or not.”

“Oh not my dear blogger. I have something much more devious in mind. It occurred to me while you were out that I haven’t told you just what I think of you. So I am going to. One body part at a time.”


	2. Wishlist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John started blankly at the piece of paper that Sherlock had handed him. At the top of the paper were the words “Christmas Wish-list” and it occurred to him that Christmas really was in a few weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is day 2 of the Sherlock December Prompts and still going strong. Again this is a little bit angsty but it is more fluff than anything.

John started blankly at the piece of paper that Sherlock had handed him. At the top of the paper were the words “Christmas Wish-list” and it occurred to him that Christmas really was in a few weeks. Not only did he not have a clue what he wanted to give to Sherlock, he also had no idea what it was that he wanted. He stared at the paper for a few more minutes and then set it on his laptop. He gave a sigh as he realized that he hadn’t really celebrated Christmas since he was a kid and therefore hadn’t needed to find gifts.

Sherlock was sitting in the kitchen doing and experiment when he heard his partner sigh and found himself at a moment of indecision. Usually a person would inquire as to what was wrong but sometimes John just wanted to be left alone to stew over it in his brain. Although sometimes he needed someone to make him talk through what he was feeling. He dithered for a moment and then decided to go with concerned and caring. He left the kitchen and then peaked into the living room where John was sitting and took in his pensive countenance. 

“John, I heard you sigh, are you alright?” The man in question startled at the words and looked over to where Sherlock was awkwardly hovering in the doorway.

“Yes Sherlock I’m alright. I just was thinking about the holidays.” Sherlock made a sound of assent and when and sat on his chair. He looked expectantly at the doctor and waited for him to continue.   
“It’s just that I haven’t really celebrated the holiday since I was a kid and I just thought of all my past Christmas’s. I remember that when I was a kid, from about the time that Harry was 13 onward we didn’t really have a good time. My parents were always concerned about what she was doing with her life and all of the things that she was doing wrong. We weren’t well off so that also weighed heavily on their minds, so there was always and air of discontentment and bitterness. I mean before that we weren’t well off but at the very least we all loved each other and would make due with what we had. After I moved out I just didn’t bother to celebrate at all. There wasn’t any point, I didn’t have anyone to celebrate with.” 

Sherlock had looked thoughtful throughout all of his words. He hesitated for a moment and then begun to speak of his own childhood.

“My own parents were distant. In ways that most people can’t even imagine but I had Mycroft. And as much as we needle each other that was one thing that he had gotten right during our childhoods. He was always willing to at least try to give me a pleasant Christmas. He was always willing to go out and find the thing that I so desperately wanted. It was part of the reason that I was so angry with him when he left for Uni, because that went away with him. By the time we reconnected I had already fallen into the cocaine and he was just trying to keep me alive. But at the very least I had the memories of those first years. Therefore there is only one thing for us to do.”

“What is that Sherlock?” John asked quietly. 

“We need to replace your unpleasant memories with happier ones so that you can enjoy Christmas properly. We will get Mrs. Hudson to come up and we will make Mycroft come over and we will make new memories with all of the traditional Christmas things. We will have the traditional pudding and we will all exchange wonderful gifts and you will have everything that you could possibly want.”

John watched as Sherlock became more and more animated at the thought of doing this for his partner. He was gesturing wildly and John couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his lips at the thought of Sherlock going through all of this trouble just for him. Sherlock pouted at the thought of his lover laughing at him and flopped down in the seat next to him. 

“Alright Sherlock we can go ahead and do it your way if you would like. You really don’t need to go through all of this trouble though. We can have a quiet day if you want to. We don’t even need to exchange gifts. Whatever you would like.”

“No John! You are completely missing the point of this. This is supposed to make you happy. We need to do the things that make you happy. You need to do something just for yourself instead of for other people. This is about you and I know that it really isn’t in your nature to just be selfish but I want you to have the happiness that I had as a child.”

“Alright Sherlock. Yes having Mrs. Hudson and having Mycroft over would be very pleasant but I don’t really know what it is that I want, so you are going to have to do the planning and help me find out.” Sherlock beamed at the thought of being able to give him something that no one had been able to before. 

John watched as Sherlock wandered off muttering to himself about what he was going to do for John’s first proper Christmas. John snagged his laptop, figuring he might do some writing before Sherlock dragged him off for another case and noticed the wish list Sherlock had given him sitting on it, still blank. 

He picked it up and looked at it for a moment and then pulled out a pen to write on it. He thought for a moment and then wrote “homemade gingerbread men” and “good tea” on it and then set it back on the coffee table. Then he opened up his laptop and began to type out his next blog post.


	3. Fruitcake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John looked at the mess in the kitchen in concern. He had planned on baking several sweets before they had their little Christmas party tomorrow but the place was filthy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here we are again. Day 3 with Fruitcake. Look at me with my regular updates.

John looked at the mess in the kitchen in concern. He had planned on baking several sweets before they had their little Christmas party tomorrow but the place was filthy. He knew that he would have to do some hardcore cleaning before the kitchen was safe to cook in and the flat was ready for visitors. Thankfully, Sherlock had been called out on a last minute case and was out of the flat.

John began with the kitchen, figuring that he could clean the kitchen and then start his baking. Then while the stuff was in the oven he could move onto the rest of the flat. He spent nearly an hour cleaning the small kitchen from top to bottom before deeming it safe and began with his sweets.

John had a list of then that he was planning on baking for the party but at the top of his list was fruitcake. Now this wasn’t your ordinary horrible fruitcake that people buy on their way to office parties they don’t want to be at. This was the recipe that John’s grandmother had gotten from her best friend who was a Ukrainian German. Apparently the woman had been one of the sweetest people his grandmother had ever known before she died of pneumonia and had gifted grandma Watson with several of her old family recipes.

This fruitcake was one of them. It was sweet batter filled with the rich taste of dried fruit. Baked to perfection so that it was neither too dry nor too moist. He knew that it would take a lot of time and effort for him to make the two recipes that mattered most this year. So the second wouldn’t even be served to his friends tomorrow. He would hoard it for him and Sherlock. And maybe Mrs. Hudson.

But first was the fruitcake. He had only one day before the party and he had waited too long to begin his baking so he would have to make due. He mixed the batter and quickly put it into the oven to bake. Now he could continue on the rest of the flat. He started with the piles and piles of books that were everywhere.

After he had managed to at least make some of the books look like they hadn’t just been thrown wherever he moved on to the grime itself. The floors were filthy and he had needed to get down on his hands and knees to scrub them properly. About halfway through this particular project he had heard the oven go off and went to check on his cake. He hurriedly washed his hands and stuck a fork in the middle of the cake. After a fork had come out clean he pulled the cake out of the oven and then continued on in his endeavors.

His next dessert on the list was a decadent New York Cheesecake that would have a raspberry sauce dribbled on top. This one took a little more time for him to prep for cooking as he need to make the graham cracker crust before he made the cheesecake itself. After it was in the oven and on its way to being prepared he moved to continue removing the crud from their floor. He was still on his knees scrubbing the floor but he had almost finished when he heard the front door open and shut.

He made to stand up before Sherlock saw him there, but wasn’t fast enough. Sherlock had already come bounding up the stairs in his excitement and was greeted by the sight of his lover on his knees holding a sponge. John gave a soft blush at the sight he made, covered with an apron and a layer of grime, scrubbing the floor like a 1950s American housewife. He stood up from the floor, dropping the sponge back into the bucket of soaping water and smoothed his apron.

“Hello John. What exactly are you doing,” Sherlock asked. His voice was just a little bit skeptical.

“I am attempting to make the flat presentable before the party tomorrow thank you very much. Because this place is _filthy_ beyond imagination and I don’t want our friends to believe that we wallow in grime. And if you will excuse me, I think that another one of my desserts is ready.”

John pulled the cheesecake out of the oven and decided that two desserts was probably plenty for their little party tomorrow, especially since everyone attending was also bringing something. He set the cheesecake in the fridge and moved to begin his super special dessert that he wouldn’t be sharing with anyone except his boyfriends and maybe Mrs. Hudson.

He had already finished the majority of the cleaning yesterday, having only the books and the floor (the two things he really didn’t want to do) left. Now that those were finished he could focus on the special treat. Sherlock went into the kitchen to see what the delicious smells coming out of it were and had to be smacked as he attempted to sample the fruitcake.

“I have already finished the desserts for the party tomorrow and now I am working on the dessert that will be just for us. But you need to leave while I make it so that I can focus. Also you won’t get to sample it until Christmas day because that is how long it will take for the flavors to properly meld. So shoo.”

Sherlock gave a pout at being shooed out like he was a child but went anyway not wanting to incur the wrath of his lover. John began to make his most favorite of desserts. Also from his grandmother’s German Ukrainian friend it was the prize of his arsenal. Baumkuchen.

It was a dessert that had children for years both complaining and salivating. Made of layers upon layers of sponge and fruit preserves you couldn’t make it the traditional way at home. Traditionally it was baked on a round spit on an open fire so you had to make do with the improvised way. Instead of being round the way that a bundt was it would be in simple rectangles and it would be delicious. Now all he had to do was stop Sherlock from eating it before the flavors had melded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for those of you who are wondering about Baumkuchen, it is a real cake. It is also a family recipe. John essentially makes the recipe that my own Ukrainian German great-grandmother made. Also I am too lazy to actually make it, which is why it is here. It takes forever. You also have to wait at least three days for the flavors to meld. It is best if you wait two weeks but I can never wait that long.


	4. Snowball Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When John woke, it was to an empty bed and a stunning view of snow falling in London.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is a little bit steamier without any actual sex because I kind of want to keep it a little more innocent. 
> 
> This is day 4 - Snowball Fight.

When John woke, it was to an empty bed and a stunning view of snow falling in London. He rolled out of bed and snagged his robe off of the chair. He left the bedroom and went into the kitchen to put the kettle on. He glanced around the flat and noticed that there were several things that indicated that Sherlock hadn’t been gone for that long.

One was a still warm cup of tea on the table and the other was the day’s newspaper folded off to one side. He picked up the tea cup and placed it in the sink and then placed the paper on the coffee table. Afterwards John got dressed while waiting for the water to boil. He drank his tea while checking his blog and his email. He had just finished editing his next blog post, planning on posting it in a few weeks when Sherlock came in. He was covered in snow but flushed from excitement and nearly jumping up and down with glee.

“John, you will never guess what kind of murder was committed! Somebody pushed someone else into the Thames and now they want me to figure who did it. Oh I am just so excited. Quickly now. Hurry up and get dressed. There are leads to follow!”

John blinked at his friends enthusiasm but wasn’t otherwise fazed and did as he was told. They went to the original crime scene and it was a only a few minutes before they were dashing off once again to chase after a lead. It didn’t take long to discover who the killer was but it had required a chase and a near escape to get the man in custody. It was a few hours later that found them high on the adrenaline of catching the killer and stumbling through a park. The two of them were giggling excitedly when John accidentally bumped into Sherlock and knocked him into the snow.

The blond doctor gave another giggle when he noticed that Sherlock looked disgruntled at the wetness and burst out laughing when he noticed the undignified sprawl. Sherlock decided to retaliate in the only way that one could in a situation like this. He threw a snowball at his lover.

John gave a startled shriek when the snow hit him and returned the favor. It only took a minute for the two of them to begin pelting each other with the snow. It was getting fairly late so there weren’t a lot of people in the park but those that were watched in astonishment as two grown men played in the snow and like they were little kids.

Both of them had begun to wind down about an hour later when Sherlock had the idea to knock a bunch of snow off one of the parks trees onto his lover. He bluffed out the doctor with several strong hits and waited for the man to take cover behind one of the trees. Then, making sure that John wouldn’t see him coming, he reached up and shook the snow off one of the branches and onto him.

John gave a startled yell again when he was doused in the powdering snow and turned to glare at his lover. Sherlock snorted at the sight that his lover made, all covered in snow and helped John brush off the snow from his clothing. The two of them walked back to their flat in companionable silence leaning against each other as they went.

When they arrived back at Baker St. they made sure to strip their wet clothing off in the entryway so they wouldn’t drip onto the floors and went upstairs. John had just finished undressing figuring that he would have a warm shower and then a nice hot cup of tea to warm up, when Sherlock came into the bathroom.

John gave a light blush at being seen naked, still not seeing how someone as gorgeous as Sherlock found him attractive and resisted the urge to cover up his body. Sherlock’s eyes roamed over the compact body and lingered on the vicious scar on his left shoulder.

“Mind if I join you John,” Sherlock asked as he took a step closer to the blond. “I think that you may need some help warming up today. After all you were covered in snow.” Sherlock then bent to kiss John’s neck, the doctor arching up into the feeling of lips against it.

“Oh and who’s fault is that exactly? But sure you can come and shower with me. However you need to make the tea afterwards. Make sure that I really do get all warmed up.” John gave a soft moan as the detective nibbled his way down the neck to the scar and sucked on it lightly.

“Hmm, you drive a hard bargain Doctor Watson. But I do believe that that would be best for you my dear. The question will be whether or not you get to the tea at all. I think that you might find yourself otherwise…occupied. After all, there are other ways to warm up.” The brunet led his lover into the shower and began to soap him up. John gave a moan at the feeling of the warm water hitting his cold body and let Sherlock take care of him.

It wasn’t a long shower. They were both too tired and too horny to actually make it that far but it did serve its purpose. After Sherlock had worshiped his lover from head to toe with soap, he gave himself a quick cleansing and led his lover back to their bedroom.

Neither of them bothered to dress, there was no point. They were just going to get naked again in a few minutes and there was nobody awake but them. When they slid under the covers Sherlock tugged his lover against his chest and kissed him softly. John sighed happily and snuggled with his lover. It was only a few minutes later that they were both sound asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoot me a review if you have any thoughts on this one. Or any of them actually.


	5. Mistletoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five times that affectionate kisses happened under the mistletoe and the one time it didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, I managed to write a decent 5 + 1. Wow. This is Day 5 - Mistletoe.

John was humming to himself as he decorated the tree. He was almost finished putting on all of the ornaments that he had planned on when he noticed something else in his Christmas box. He gave a snort of amusement when he noticed that it was a sprig of fake mistletoe that he had bought one year on a whim. He placed the last of the ornaments and picked up the mistletoe.

He glanced around the flat and his eyes settled on the doorway to the kitchen. It was a split second decision that had him hanging the mistletoe and he decided that he wouldn’t say anything about it unless Sherlock noticed.

Although his lover was unbelievably observant in his work there were times that he could completely miss something that was new in his immediate world. John put away the box and moved on to other things.

1

It was nearly a day later that Sherlock noticed the mistletoe above the kitchen and he frowned, wondering when his lover had put that up. He was also wondering why his lover had put that up. Sherlock had paused in the doorway to the kitchen and John, quite absent mindedly had went to place something on the kitchen table.

It was on a total whim that Sherlock snagged the doctor’s waist and pressed a kiss to the pale pink lips. John gave surprised noise at the unexpected kiss but soon found himself involved in a very passionate exchange. When they broke apart both were panting for breath.

Sherlock took a step back and nodded, then he smoothed out his suit and continued on with his experiment. John smiled when he remembered the mistletoe.

2

Nearly a week later they were hosting their Christmas party. It was the last time that all of their friends would be in London before the new year and they always had a party to exchange gifts. This time it was Lestrade and Molly that were caught underneath the mistletoe. The two of them seemed awkward for a minute but relented to the crowd and gave just a passionate kiss to each other that John and Sherlock had exchanged.

It was to several cat calls and whistles that it happened and they were both blushing by the end of it. It was unsurprising to everybody when a few weeks later they announced that they were going out.

3

Although the first two combinations had been extremely fruitful the third was a bit odd to say the least. Mycroft had been leaving the kitchen after a conversation with his brother as John had just been entering. Caught under the mistletoe in a surprised moment, neither of them knew quite what to do. Sherlock was watching adamantly to see how it played out but his hopes for some drama were for naught.

Mycroft bent down and placed a singled delicate kiss against John’s cheek leaving both of them at a bit of a loss for words. Although the two of them got along fairly well this was all a bit awkward. It was the first time that Mycroft had done something even remotely resembling familial affection with John even though the doctor and the detective had been together for nearly a year and a half.

Mycroft quickly wished them both a good day and left the little flat. Leaving its occupants more than stunned at what had just happened.

4

The fourth had everybody worried that there was going to be a war declared. Mycroft and Sherlock had been caught underneath the mistletoe and John had just about been ready to jump in and stop a major fight from happening. Again there was a loss for words, as there usually seemed to be for the people underneath the mistletoe before Mycroft, again, went ahead and solve the problem.

He pressed a kiss to Sherlock’s forehead and even though afterwards Sherlock acted like he hated it there was a look on his face during that said otherwise. The detective had said nothing as it had happened and he had allowed Mycroft to place that one soft kiss against his curls. There seemed to be a bit of affection in that moment that was normally hidden. There, that was the relationship the brothers had had before the real world and forced them to hide it away. John had never been more happy to have Mycroft there than it that moment.

5

The fifth time was only to be expected. Violet Holmes had caught sight of the little bit of mistletoe and had been delighted. As soon as her husband and John had paused in their swapping of war stories she had tricked him into slipping underneath the mistletoe and kissed him soundly.

Sherlock had protested loudly the sight of his parents kissing so adamantly but John had just hushed him. After all, they were married and of they wanted to make out underneath the mistletoe than they were more than able to.

 

 + 1

Harry had come to stay with them for a few days but it had only taken a few hours for her and John to begin fighting over their drinking. After a very vicious fight, Harry had gone out drinking.

When she returned to the flat with an apology and whiskey on her lips she found that John was waiting up for her. She figured that her brother would lavish her with another one of his lectures but he didn’t. All he did was quietly listen as she apologized to him, standing at the sink washing dishes. She stood in the doorway and gave him her apology.

He went over to where she was standing and gazed at her for a moment. When she made a crack about the mistletoe and kissing and making up, he sighed. A world weary sound that made her wonder when he had lost his sense of romance. She leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek, like they did when they were kids, but he pushed her away. He didn’t say a word to her as he to his bedroom and to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am loving the kudos. Makes my mornings when I log on to update. So for those who have left kudos, thank you.


	6. Cozy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John had offered to go with Sherlock on his latest case but Sherlock had declined not wanting his lover to risk a fall when his shoulder was already acting up because of the terrible weather.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Another chapter. Still on time and everything. Thanks to the Thepersianslipper for the review. This is fluff. Just rot your teeth fluff.
> 
> Day 6 - Cozy

The weather was atrocious. There seemed to almost be ice falling from the sky and it looked like it wasn’t going to let up any time soon. John was sprawled out on the sofa reading a book and occasionally stoking up the roaring fire he had going in their fireplace. He was also waiting on his lover to return home.

John had offered to go with Sherlock on his latest case but Sherlock had declined not wanting his lover to risk a fall when his shoulder was already acting up because of the terrible weather. The doctor had decided to use the day to catch up on some of the medical journals he had been recently been wanting to read. However, after about an hour and a half he was sick of the journals and had opted to read through a mystery that Sherlock had bought for him.

It was the kind of lazy day that only ever seemed to occur in the bad weather months. The summer months always seemed to be so full of the urge to go out and do something that the thought of staying in and doing nothing never even occurred to people. John though, had always appreciated a good lazy day and was taking full advantage of it to do nothing.

He was doing no cleaning, no cooking, no work and no crime solving. The only thing that would make it even better would be the chance to snuggle up with his lover. Alas, Sherlock was dashing about the snowy streets of London in pursuit of a jewel thief.

It was nearly 5 when John awoke from his nap. The book that he had been holding had dropped to the floor and he didn’t seem to remember when he had gone to sleep. The blond stood and stretched and nearly cried out from the pain radiating from his shoulder. The nap on the couch had managed to flair and lock it up so badly that he couldn’t even move his left arm.

He chewed his lip for a moment contemplating what he was to do. After all the best thing would be for someone to rub it. Sherlock was out on a case though and Mrs. Hudson wasn’t nearly strong enough to work out the large knots that were sure to be present. John finally decided that the best decision would be to just go to bed and see if he could ride out the pain until Sherlock got home and could help.

He climbed into the warm bed and settled himself against the headboard. He couldn’t help the thought that even though he was in immense pain it was kind of cozy. The entire flat was comfortably warm and he could watch as snow spiraled out of the window and onto the street below. He gave a soft smile at the thought of his lover finding him in his bed and leaned his head back.

John had once again dozed off and when he awoke it was to Sherlock sitting on the bed next to him looking at him in worry.

“You had a shoulder flair up. It was bad enough that you decided to not even try and work the knots out but not so intolerable you called me. It is most likely from falling asleep on the couch and now you need me to go ahead and rub out all of those stubborn knots.” John smiled at his lover and gave him a soft chaste kiss on the lips, allowing the detective to gently probe his mouth with his agile tongue.

“Yes as a matter of fact, I did fall asleep on the couch and my shoulder is all bound up in knots and I would like for you to rub it, if you would be willing.” Sherlock gave a snort at the thought that he wouldn’t give his lover a shoulder rub and helped John out of his jumper and button up. Then he laid his lover down on the bed and pulled out a small bottle of massage oil.

Sherlock straddled the doctor and rubbed some oil on his hands. Then he began to rub at the shoulder. He started with the outside of the area that was bound up and begun to make his way inward.

Most people would be surprised to find out that Sherlock not only learned how to give massages he also didn’t delete the information. It was mostly because John was almost in need of them every week. His shoulder in the winter had a tendency to bind up and become even more painful that it already was and his leg would sometimes ache.

John was just laying back and allowing Sherlock to work his magic and had slipped into that place of comfort that wasn’t quite sleep but not really awake either. Although the work would help ease the pain eventually, working out the knots was painful and there were several places where John was startled so badly he nearly shoved Sherlock off of him. It was an interesting combination of floaty and painful.

John damn near cried when Sherlock began to work on the root of the problem. The muscle where the bullet had entered was extremely scarred and it was painful to touch. When the knot finally release though Sherlock eased off his lover. After drying them both with a towel Sherlock laid down beside his lover and begun to tell him about his day.

The two of them talked for a while and reveled in the feeling of coziness. It wasn’t often when they were both free to just lay back and enjoy each other’s company and they took every chance that they got. The two of them laid there enjoying the end of the day until they needed to eat dinner. Even that was only a temporary disturbance to the aura of their flat.

They simply reheated the Chinese from the other day and laid on the couch watching the snow fall.


	7. Candles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock gazed stunned at the shelf. The sheer variety astounded him and he didn’t know that there were even that many types, colors and scents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know about this chapter. It is nothing but romantic fluff.

Sherlock gazed stunned at the shelf. The sheer variety astounded him and he didn’t know that there were even that many types, colors and scents.

“Sir, can I help? You seem to be a little lost.” The detective turned to where a young woman was standing just off to the left of him.

“Err, yes. I believe that I need a suggestion about picking a candle. My anniversary is coming up and I wanted to make it romantic. However, I have no idea which candle will do so and there are so many choices that I really have no idea.” The look on her face led him to believe that he was being overly romantic for his wife and for some reason that irritated him.

“Oh how sweet. I am sure that is a wonderful idea. Have the two of you been married for a long time then?” She walked over to the shelf and begun to search all of the labels, seeming to look for something specific.

“We have been married for just over 5 years. I want to make it truly special.” Sherlock kept it purposely vague wanting to see if she could figure out that he was gay. Women always seemed to know.

“Ooh, the big five. How exciting. He must be a lucky man if you are trying buy candles.” Women had guessed it so many times now that he wasn’t even surprised at he fact that she noticed. Then she held up a candle called peaceful night.

“Now this particular candle is made with sage, pine and just a faint hint of honey sickle for some sweetness. This is the one that I would recommend. We carry several sweeter more classically romantic candles but I think that the two of you will like this one more. Most of those are sugary syrupy sweet, and you seem more like a solid dependable person.” Sherlock took the candle, popped off the lid and sniffed it. To his utter concertation she was right and the scent of it was very pleasing. He hated it when someone was better at something than him.

He accepted the candle and then thanked the girl. She wandered off and he picked out a couple of plain beeswax candles and went to check out. It had been way too much work for him to get a candle so he hoped that the night would be worth it.

Sherlock walked back to their flat and thought about the things that he wanted to do before John arrived home from the clinic.

 

John was exhausted when he finally made it back to their flat. He had spent all day treating sick children and dealing with obnoxious parents. On top of everything he had originally requested the day off so that he could spend his anniversary with his husband. That had gone out of the window when at 6 am that morning Sarah had called and begged him to come in. She was short three doctors and really needed the help. He couldn’t just tell her no.

So that was the reason that instead of spending a relaxing day with the most important man in his life, he spent it attempting to hold his temper. Thankfully instead of having to take the tube home, Mycroft had sent a car and he had been able to simply sit back and wait to arrive at their flat.

He stripped off his coat and began to make his way up the stairs to their flat. Already he could detect several scents in the air, lending to the fact that Sherlock hadn’t been idle while he was gone. When he entered their flat he was surprised to see that the lights were off

Set on the table was a fancy silver candelabra that had been a wedding gift from Sherlock’s parents. In it were two plain white beeswax candles that were lit and filled the place with the faint glow of light. In the corner of the table there was another candle, this one a pale green and seemed to be giving off a pleasing fresh scent. John smiled at all of the trouble that his lover had gone through to make this day special.

“I had a ridiculous time at the shop getting that candle thank you very much. Are you aware that there are literal hundreds of different types of candles? All different colors, shapes, sizes and scents. I finally had to prevail on a shop girl to help me pick out the right one. Thankfully she at the very least had good taste because some of those candles were like sugar in candle form.”

John chuckled at his husbands monologue of complaints and allowed the detective to wrap his long pale arms around John’s waist. He settled into the embrace until he heard timer go off and he was released in favor of Sherlock checking on dinner.

After verifying that the meat was in fact the right temperature all the way through, Sherlock pulled out a beautiful pork roast. John’s mouth watered at the mere sight of the delicious meet and he more than willingly took his seat at the table. Sherlock carved up the roast and plated the delicious meal. Alongside the roast were homemade mashed potatoes and a small dish of corn. They made small talk for a few minutes until they had both finished eating. Sherlock smirked at his lover and then leaned over to speak to him.

“You know I picked out that candle so that it would be romantic and I would have an easier time seducing you into my bed Doctor Watson, is it working?” John gave a little giggle at the way that his lover spoke those words but he went ahead and played along.

“Yes as a matter of fact it is. Now I believe that someone said something about a bed? You wouldn’t want to be known as a liar would you Detective Holmes. Better take me to bed.” Sherlock smirked at the words and led his partner to the bedroom.


	8. Warming Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John shivered violently in the cold air and Sherlock gazed at him in worry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Day 8 and I am still going strong. Here is Warming Up.

John shivered violently in the cold air and Sherlock gazed at him in worry. They had only been out for a few hours and Sherlock knew that it should be too early for hypothermia to set in. They had also spent a good part of that time running around chasing suspects and leads. That all fell short in the fact that John had woken up with a cough that morning. John gave another violent shiver and Sherlock knew that this couldn’t go on any longer. He needed to get his husband away from the cold weather before he got really sick.

The detective gave a glance around their area and frowned at what he saw. There seemed to be nothing at all around them and that was worrying. Although he knew exactly where they were it seems that in the excitement of the chase he had neglected to take notice of just how far they were from civilization. They had a fair bit of walk before they could get to someplace and get a cab. John gave another one of his violent shivers and Sherlock knew that the suspect didn’t matter now, they needed to go back.

So he turned around and looked in the way that they had come. When he had calculated how long it would take the two of them to walk back instead of jogging, he stepped to his husband and wrapped an arm around him. John tucked himself into Sherlock’s side and allowed the detective to fuss over him a little bit.

John knew that coming out with Sherlock on a case when he had a cold wasn’t the smartest of ideas, especially for a doctor. However, the case that Sherlock had been working on seemed to be getting a little out of hand and John didn’t like the thought of his husband facing down thugs without some sort of back-up, and Sherlock never brought back-up that wasn’t John. So he had gone along and now he seemed to be paying the price. No matter what he did he couldn’t seem to stop shivering.

The two of them walked for nearly 45 minutes and John’s shivering only became more and more pronounced. When they finally reached a regular road and continued on their way, Sherlock was at least feeling more confident that they would make it back before John got hypothermia. He wasn’t so assured about the chances of pneumonia. Although the doctor had incredibly strong lungs Sherlock was well aware about the fact that pneumonia could set in at any point if the person was sick enough and they had spent hours out in the cold.

All the way back John hadn’t spoken a word and while this wasn’t unusual for him, it unnerved Sherlock to the point were he was checking John’s pallor every few minutes, to reassure himself about what was going on. They continued on in this fashion until they reached a place that they could catch a cab.

Finally in the back of a warm cab, Sherlock believed that his husband would stop shivering and eventually become a little more animate. That didn’t happen. If anything he became quieter and more withdrawn. That was something that was never good when dealing with John. John, although he was the sort of person who was a little more reserved than his husband, wasn’t withdrawn. He rarely ever wasn’t paying attention to that which was going on around him.

His quietness was also of a different kind than his husband’s. Sherlock’s silence was one of pouting. Anybody around him always had the feeling that he was just waiting for a minute to release another complaint. John on the other had was the sort of person that seemed to be made up of barely restrained energy. There was this light around him that had people looking at him in wonder.

They arrived at the flat and Sherlock knew that John wasn’t really feeling up to anything that was too strenuous or required a lot of thought. Sherlock guided his doctor up the stairs and into their cold living room. They turned down the heat when they were out to save money and they hadn’t had time to light a fire in the fire place. John was settled on his chair and the detective set about warming up the room a little bit and making themselves a little more comfortable. Then he could see about a couple of cups of tea.

It took 20 minutes for John to stop his shivering and even then his color didn’t seem to want to recover. Sherlock was worried about that but knew that if he was too vocal then John wouldn’t let him take care of him at all. He went ahead and gave John a little bit of cough medicine and then led his husband to bed.

The detective whispered sweet words to him while he drifted off and hoped that it wouldn’t get worse. He was of course dead wrong. It did get worse. So much worse.

John spent most of the night attempting to hack up one of his longs and the rest of it in fever dreams. Sherlock was worried that he was going to have to take John to the hospital when the fever broke and John settled into a more natural sleep. It was only then that Sherlock allowed himself to enter sleep himself.

The two of them slept until almost noon and when they awoke it was to a warm flat and each other. Although John’s smile was just a little bit weak from the bad night that he had had, it was full of warmth and love. Sherlock mirrored the expression back and they found themselves being warmed in a different way that last night.

Although it had taken time for the physical warmth to spread through them, the emotional one seemed to take hardly any effort at all. After all, you are never truly warm without the one who loves you truly.


	9. Ghosts of Christmas Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seemed that every year the ghosts of past Christmases haunted both of the boys at 221B Baker St.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a little bit more angst this time but not too much. This is Day 9 Ghosts of Christmas Pasts.

It seemed that every year the ghosts of past Christmases haunted both of the boys at 221B Baker St. For Sherlock it was the reminder that although he had thought so when he was younger Mycroft didn’t have the ability to make everything better and couldn’t make his parents actually have an interest in either of them. It also reminded him of the years that he had wasted. He thought of the year that Mycroft had found him in an alley high as a kite and nearly violent in his need for more cocaine.

He had never been so embarrassed for himself in his entire life. He had hated that the one person who had cared for him through the years had seen him that way so he did the only thing he knew how and struck out. It hadn’t deterred his brother though. Mycroft had simply went ahead and put him in a rehab facility that essentially locked him in. There was absolutely no contact with the outside world because they both knew that even the slightest bit of contact then Sherlock would be able to get his hands on cocaine.

That had set the tone for their entire adult relationship and if asked Mycroft would complain heartily about his brother’s lack of self-preservation but not truly mean it. Mycroft undoubtedly loved his brother and although he couldn’t seem to insert himself into Sherlock’s life in any capacity of functional he could go ahead and fuss to his heart’s content. So he did, on a regular basis.

Sherlock was just as bad as his brother. He would loudly and wholeheartedly complain about his brother’s interference while secretly loving the fact that no matter what he did, Mycroft never truly tired of him or stopped his efforts to protect Sherlock from himself.

Sherlock certainly had a rough past with Christmases but his had gotten so much better when John had come into his life.

John on the other hand struggled a bit more to settle into the feeling of a proper Christmas because he didn’t have the advantage of someone trying to make it good for him.

Although he loved his parents and he loved his sister it seemed as though they all hated each other. His entire childhood had consisted of first listening to his parents fight about everything from money to allowing him to play rugby and then to his sister go after his parents for not supporting her enough. John seemed to simply fade into the background.

It seemed as though nothing he did could help stop the fighting, so eventually, he just gave up. He gave up on his parents and on Harry. He let them have their fights and their anger and every year he grew just a little more distant. By the time that he joined the army he hadn’t spoken to any of them in months and had no plans to do other-wise. No matter what the chaplain said.

Then while he was at war Christmas sort of became low on the list of priorities. There had been times when he missed the entire day of Christmas for the simple fact that he was too busy. You aren’t really concerned about holidays when you are desperately trying to patch up your friends. After he had finished his service of course he had met Sherlock and had spent all of his Christmases with him from then on. But it hadn’t been as simple for the good army doctor.

He didn’t know how to celebrate the holiday.

While Sherlock moved in with his future husband he simply took the traditions that he enjoyed and applied them with John. He took all the things he had loved as a child and enjoyed them with the most important person in his entire life. John didn’t have any traditions that he loved.

His parents weren’t even remotely religious so there was no spiritual value placed on the holiday and the only thing that the Watsons did on a regular basis was scream at each other so he had been at a complete loss about what he was supposed to do for this holiday.

It had taken 5 different discussions for John to even grasp the idea of what a proper Christmas was and even then he seemed to be a little shaky on the details. He loved the idea of all of their friends being there and had invited all of them over for a little party. Sherlock did his best to be patient with his boyfriend but knew that it would probably take several Christmases for him to get a good handle on how it should happen.

Sherlock was right about it taking several years but he had never regretted the decision to teach his lover what Christmas was supposed to be like. He opened his eyes and looked around wondering how he had drifted off into his thoughts so badly. John, though, seemed to be the same, caught up in his own thoughts of how it used to be. The two of them locked eyes for a moment and then a things passed between the two of them. An understanding of sorts and they seemed to read each other’s minds for a moment. They both seemed to ache at their thoughts.

The two of them were startled out of their moment by he sound of Sherlock’s phone going off. They readied themselves to go out into the snowy world that was referred to as London. Before John could lead the way out of the door, Sherlock wrapped his arms around the smaller man.

They simply stood for a moment reflecting on what their lives could have been like without the other and then went on to solve their case. They both knew that while the ghosts of Christmas past might still haunt them and make them melancholy the spirit of the present was getting better every year. The future was positively bright with the possibilities of Christmases to come.


	10. Eggnog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our boys get drunk at the Christmas party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to those who left me Kudos. Also here is day 10 - Eggnog.

Sherlock and John giggled as they made their way back into their flat. John stumbled on his way up the stairs and Sherlock just barely saved him from a nasty fall. The two of them looked at each other for a moment and then burst into giggles. They stood their laughing at themselves for a minute and then made their way up to the flat.

The Christmas party had been Greg Lestrade’s idea. He was required as a DI to attend it every year and he thought that if he had to suffer then so did both of them. He had neglected to tell either of the men that all of the food and the drinks would be spiked. Not all of them would come in spiked, but all of them would end up spiked. It was part of the traditional Scotland Yard Christmas Party.

It had begun with the eggnog and the brandy bundt. The brandy bundt was obviously alcoholic but the eggnog had been fine for about a half an hour. Nobody was ever really sure who it was that went ahead and poured in the Bailey’s, but someone had. It was not a little amount either, no it was probably about half a bottle.

Now usually this wasn’t enough to get anybody drunk, no matter how light of a weight they were, but it wasn’t the only thing there that was spiked. Of course there was the bundt, but it really only had a smidgen anyway, at least that’s what the baker claimed. She seemed to put in just a little more every year as well. No the biggest problem came from the punch and the bottles of wine. Everyone started out with at least a glass of wine and they usually would drown the wine with a little bit of eggnog. Then came the decision of having another glass of wine or not.

The problem with this particular decision was that it didn’t stop the inebriation and they were usually tipsy a the point that they had to make this decision. Most opted for a second glass of wine (and when you have already had two you might as well have a third, a fourth and a fifth) but those who didn’t went in for the eggnog. A bit tipsy from the combination of wine and spiked eggnog, they then moved onto the punch. That was a whole other matter as well.

The punch was very special and it was the only time in the year that any of them would think of partaking in it. The only people who went ahead and partook in this dangerous tradition were the people who didn’t have all of their senses. Usually from the tipsiness from the other drinks. Since that seemed to apply to everyone who attended the party, there was no shortage of drunks. It was a special recipe that had come from Lestrade’s grandmother and it included no less than four different types of alcohol and a number of types of juice. The juice was so that it was palatable to drink.

Just a few glasses of this punch would have even the best drinker falling over drunk. Most people didn’t make it past their second glass.

John and Sherlock of course knew none of this and nobody though to enlighten them. Almost all of Scotland Yard was looking forward to seeing the two of them drunk off their arses and what they would be like.

It went fairly simple. First Sherlock and John had a little wine. After their wine Sherlock had another glass and John went ahead and had a cup of eggnog, after all he really did like Bailey’s. After a bit of John socializing and attempting to make his boyfriend behave they both decided to have a cup of punch.

It was all downhill from there.

Unfortunately for the officers most of them were so plastered that they didn’t remember what exactly happened when the two of them got drunk but Lestrade would never forget it for the rest of his live. It was tame in the beginning just some PDA and some clumsy dancing but then Sherlock got bored. So he decided to set some booby-traps that only  seemed to catch Anderson. All John did was look on in admiration as his lover tormented the forensics officer.

One thing led to another which led to another which led to Lestrade dragging the two of them out to a cab and sending them home, hoping they would be alright.

He probably shouldn’t have put that much faith in them but at the very least they were both in one piece when the arrived. Sherlock fumbled for his keys for a moment, seeming to forget which one went with their flat. The two of them giggled for a moment and then burst into uncontrollable laughter when Sherlock couldn’t get the right key in the lock. Finally after several more moments of struggling the door was open and they were in.

Inside the flat seemed to be even more amusing to them as they flopped in the sitting room. The two of them giggled for a few more minutes before they attempted to make their way to the bedroom. It was only with a few mishaps that they were able to make it to the bedroom and John immediately flopped down on the bed.

Sherlock gave a put upon sigh seeming to be exacerbated with his lover’s forgotten step. It took a few more moments for him to shed his clothing than it probably should have but eventually he was naked. Then he flopped down on the bed next to John. He gave a few half-hearted smacks to get his lover to change and John did so with a groan. Although the act of undressing had gotten them both aroused and ready to go, it seemed that alcohol was stronger than libido because the two of them were asleep before they could get around to the fun bits.


	11. Violin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock pulled the bow across the strings feeling the music begin to well up in him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to those who left me kudos. This is Day 11 Violin.

Sherlock pulled the bow across the strings feeling the music begin to well up in him. He played a few practice notes before he began to play the song that seemed to plague him lately. Although he was a talented player and composer, he rarely ever played the music that streamed through his head.

Music had an odd effect on him. It quieted the entire world. It seemed as though every little bit of sensory input was blocked out when the notes came from him. It wasn’t conducive to the work, so he didn’t. There however was a reason that he was playing this particular piece.

 

That reason was sitting in the chair watching him with interested eyes. Sherlock had refused to play for everyone, even when he was a child. So, most people were completely unaware of the fact that he was phenomenal at the violin. No one had coaxed him into playing for them. No one but his flat mate turned blogger.

 

He hadn’t been surprised when John had asked if he would play for him, almost everyone he had ever known did. He was more surprised by the fact that he had accepted. Most of the time Sherlock would simply outright refuse the person or rake the bow across making that screeching sound that everyone hated. Yet, he had conceded to John’s request. What did that say about him?

 

There was another thing that was bothering him lately. When he had taken John to that first crime scene he had introduced the man as his colleague. Sherlock didn’t have colleagues and yet he had searched his mind and found that this statement was true. John was his colleague, his contemporary, his peer. It seemed that so often people underestimated his friend for the simple fact that his intelligence wasn’t the same as Sherlock’s.

 

He seemed to blend into the background, and truly that was one of his greatest advantages. No one would expect that the short bloke was a crack shot that would kill you with hardly a word. No one expected that John had performed miracles so grand, so amazing that he had been awarded the Victoria Cross in secret. (At one point he had bugged his brother into giving John’s file so that he could figure out what John had done. Apparently there was a good part of a small country that had been freed due to his friend. Sherlock hadn’t really been all that surprised.) His intelligence was equal to that of both brothers and they often found themselves surprised by the doctor.

 

So that was the reason that Sherlock played for John that evening. It was because John was a true friend, his colleague and his flat mate. The two of them had been in some pretty rough situations and Sherlock had been pretty unbearable when he didn’t have a case. Despite all of that John had remained at his side as a peer, friend and a roommate. That was the reason that he played that night.

And it was glorious.

 

Sherlock had forgotten what it was like to play something smooth and beautiful. To just allow the music to thread through him and out of his violin. He had never known the feeling of pride that would accompany the music when John stared up at him in amazement.

 

The melody wasn’t a complex one but it was nearly haunting in its beauty. Sherlock had begun to dub the melody “John’s Tune” as it seemed to fit the doctor so well. It was beautiful, deceiving in its simplicity quite similar to the way that John always was. It was probably the most beautiful thing that he had ever composed.

 

One of the things that made it such a hard piece was the shifting. Although at first glance it seemed as though you didn’t spend a lot of time in third position, there were a number of places where there was a single high note that you had to try and hit in fourth and then ease back into first. Sherlock had begun to love the piece. Its complexity keeping him entertained for hours.

 

The other problem was the double stops. When two notes are played at the exact same time. Easy and normal for a piano, tricky and complex on a violin. Not only did you have to make sure your bow was so perfectly aligned you actually played both notes, but you also had to hit both notes. It was also entirely in F flat minor. A tough key in an easy piece nearly impossible in one this complex.

 

Even though he was the one that wrote it, sometimes Sherlock didn’t hit all of the notes correctly. John either didn’t notice or he didn’t care. He just loved the fact that his flat mate composed music and had been willing to play the piece for him. John was well aware of the fact that other people didn’t get to hear Sherlock really play.

 

It was his infatuation with John that had allowed him to compose such a beautiful piece. It simply hammered home the thought that had been plaguing Sherlock for weeks at that point. Without John he couldn’t be the best that he could be. He couldn’t continue to wow all of the Yarders or just keep going with his lifestyle.

 

This realization had been hard to swallow, as much as he truly liked the doctor. For his entire life he had been self-sufficient and hadn’t needed anyone to lean on. Then this army doctor came limping into his life and he had become entrenched. Now there was no way that he could ever go back to the way that he had been before.

 

Looking at the doctor sat avidly listening to his music, Sherlock knew that there was no way that he would want to. It seemed such a small thing that he had someone that he genuinely cared if they hated him or not, a bit of a novel idea really, but that’s the way that it was and he wouldn’t change it for the world.


	12. Winter Wonderland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock in a decorated store.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I am not really sure what happened in this one. I mean the prompt seemed to have gotten away from me and there was some serious interpretation going on. This store is actually modeled on one that I shop in. Yes, it is entirely filled with one of a kind artisan items and antiques.  
> This is day 12 - Winter wonderland.

Sherlock absolutely hated shopping during winter time. There were way to many people who were all pushing and shoving and trying to get their gifts for the year. It just grated on his nerves and made him snippy. That was why most years he simply made John go out and do all of his Christmas shopping instead. Or he went ahead and ordered everything online, long before Christmas arrived. That wasn’t going to happen this year.

There seemed to be a disgusting lack of cases that winter and it made Sherlock bored and annoyed. It also meant that John was picking up more shifts at the clinic this year. That meant that he didn’t have time to run around looking for the absurd gifts that Sherlock always seemed to choose. He also had dallied on what he wanted to give his flat mate for Christmas and now that he had decided was stuck buying something locally. That led Sherlock to his current predicament, attempting to buy John a new sweater for Christmas.

He had planned on getting him a nice wool sweater that would help keep him warm on their late nights. Something in blue or silver to showcase his pale blue eyes. However, the store he had decided to buy it from (after having done extensive research on size, quality, color and price) seemed to be a madhouse. There were people everywhere and Sherlock was fairly sure that he was going to be a witness to a murder if the argument that had broken out in the shoe section was real.

Sherlock decided that being murdered wasn’t worth getting the sweater and wandered away from the store. He made its way up the street glowering at anyone who got in his way. He still needed to get John’s gift and he didn’t want to have to come back. Sherlock figured that somewhere along there, there would be another store that would carry something similar. All he had to do was find it and buy it.

The crowds began to thin as he went farther and farther up the street. The reason being that the majority of the stores in that area were closed. This was where more of the high end stores were operated and none of them were open. Most of them hadn’t wanted to deal with the before Christmas crowds and had simply opted to not be open those days. Others had decided to take the rest of the month off before they returned to catch the crowds in the new year.

He was about to turn back when he noticed that there were lights on farther up. He wandered up that direction figuring that it wouldn’t hurt to at the very least check it out. The store front was small, but the detective could see that the store itself was quite long and probably held a lot. It seemed to be less of a specialized store, as most were in this part of the street, and more of an eclectic stock. Sherlock figured that he could look for a sweater there and if he found one, would not have to brave the crowds again.

Sherlock was stunned when he entered the store. It seemed as though someone had taken winter and concentrated it to the point where it saturated the store. The first thing that his eyes were drawn to was the train set in the middle of the store. It moved along at a steady pace through and intricate track. He began to look at the items that inhabited the store and it was surprising just how much stuff there really was.

There were shelves that had been wrapped in garland and lights. On the shelves were one of a kind items that seemed to all want to hold his attention. More than that because of the way the store was set up, it almost seemed as though the store just went on and on. Everywhere he turned there was another shelf with another set of eclectic items.

It took Sherlock a minute to regain his concentration and he began to wander the maze like store, astounded at the way that it was set up. It was probably the closest thing to a winter wonderland that he had ever seen. Among the shelves were fully decorated trees, elegant in their appearance and stunningly beautiful to simply look at. It also seemed that everything in the store was for sale, as Sherlock noticed the tags that adorned every item.

Even the trees and the train set.

His walk took him deeper and deeper into the store until he reached what seemed to be the clothing section. Dozens of one of a kind high quality garments littered the area and he hunted for the proper one. Sherlock was set on finding the perfect sweater although there seemed to be dozens to choose from.

“Looking for something in particular,” questioned a voice from behind him. When Sherlock turned he saw a well dressed older man of an indiscriminate age. Supposing that the owner would know his own merchandise better than Sherlock would, he didn’t immediately reply no.

“I am looking for a wool jumper. Something heavy and warm for when it gets very cold here. It also needs to be a pale color. It is for a very good friend of mine and I want something that will match his eyes.”

The shop keeper thought for a moment and then disappeared around a number of shelves. When he returned he was carrying a pale blue jumper. It was exactly what Sherlock had wanted to buy for John and he knew that it would be perfect. It was with a large amount of surprise that he responded.

“That is exactly what I had imagined when I thought of what to buy him. I will take it.”

The man gave a single nod and led him back through to the front of the store where a cash register was. He quickly rang up the item and accepted money that Sherlock handed him. When Sherlock stepped back into the street with his package wrapped in plain brown paper, he noticed that it had begun to snow again.

It was with a spring in his step that he started the journey home. This was a magnificent find for doing his Christmas shopping. Next year he might even buy a pre-decorated tree.


	13. In front of the Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John was humming to himself as he folded laundry in the living room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to PipMer for the comment. This is day 13 - In front of the fire. Also this is pure domestic fluff.

John was humming to himself as he folded laundry in the living room. He was content with the everyday chores that were needed to make their flat livable that day. Most of the time it was at the very least boring or tedious and he didn’t really want to do it. This time though there was snow spiraling from the sky and John was in front of a roaring fire with a cup of tea and a smile. Sherlock was sitting in the kitchen occasionally glancing at his partner who seemed to have lost his mind.

Sherlock had no idea what kind of entertainment value folding laundry had that had his partner so content. It was a good thing that he was because they had a mountain of laundry so Sherlock wasn’t going to mention anything. Although, it was a little bit weird. He kept furtively glancing over his experiments at his partner who either didn’t notice the attention or didn’t care as he continued his folding.

John, on the other hand, had noticed the attention and had smiled at how non-subtle his lover was being. It amused John that Sherlock didn’t seem to understand just how happy the simple things made him in life. It sometimes caused a point of friction in their relationship as Sherlock felt the need to spoil his lover as much as possible. He simply couldn’t help buying expensive clothes, shoes and whatever else he thought that John needed.

John however had no use at all for that kind of thing and was more than likely going to reject the gifts. Which had Sherlock dashing around trying to find something better for his lover. It had taken weeks of that happening for the two of them to finally figure it out and have an actual conversation about what they wanted out of life. Now Sherlock at the very least accepted that John just wanted the simple pleasures and he did his best to fulfill them.

With that thought in mind Sherlock decided that he needed to still spoil John, but in a different way. Now instead of over priced clothing and trinkets he didn’t need, Sherlock bought him high quality tea and decadent jams. He ordered in sweets and sometimes he even cooked. It was the little things, and although a lot of the time it just didn’t work, John didn’t mind because Sherlock tried so hard.

 

Sherlock had finished his experiment and was observing the results but his attention was wandering and he had grown bored with it. The detective decided he would just give up the pretense of experimenting and just go ahead and observe John. He made a half-hearted attempt at cleaning up the experiment and then went and sat on the couch. Then he entered his mind palace and continued the detailed catalogue of things that made John happy.

He was well aware that John didn’t always find such enjoyment in doing the laundry and the detective realized that there must be outside factors that were affecting this. He began to go through and catalogue the differences between now and when he had last done laundry.

For one, there was the snow outside and no where to go. John actually like being inside during a snow storm and reveling in the warmth but he hated to be outside in the snow. It made him irritated. The other was the cup of tea. Sherlock had made him a cup of tea and that always made John happy, even when the tea itself wasn’t very good. The last thing was the fire.

John seemed to have a special love for a roaring fire, so Sherlock took the chance to indulge him as often as was practical. There were a lot of days during the winter that saw them with a roaring fire and it had done wonders for their heating bill.

The detective thought over all of these for a minute and realized that without further data he wouldn’t be able to determine the deciding factor. Then he had the crazy though to actually ask his lover why he was in such a good mood.

“John,” Sherlock began, not really sure how to phrase such an odd question, “Why are you enjoying folding laundry? I have gone through all of my other experiences with you folding laundry and in my memory I have never seen you so…content. I have tried going through all of the differing variables, but without more data I can’t determine the answer.”

John’s smile was loving and indulgent. He thought for a minute while folding Sherlock’s socks and then he gave his response.

“It is a number of things really. There is the fact that I don’t have to be out in the snow, which always has me in a good mood. I have a roaring fire to warm myself by and I have amazing company. Even the most tedious of chores can be made to be pleasing is you have the right company.” Sherlock pondered this for a moment and then responded.

“I still don’t quite understand how you can be so pleased with it but I do understand that the people you are with can be a great determining factor in a persons mood. Just look at me, the most boring of days are made tolerable just by you being here.” John smiled at Sherlock’s words and continued to fold the laundry.

It always pleased him greatly when Sherlock expressed his feelings. Even though it was usually in a socially awkward round about way like that it made him. That was possible the reason that John was the only lover that worked for Sherlock. He was more than happy with not only what Sherlock could give, but also what he would give. It wasn’t even settling for less, he was truly content with the way that things were.

The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, with John folding the laundry and Sherlock just watching him. Eventually John finished the basket that he was on and handed it to Sherlock to put away.


	14. Naughty or Nice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The most interesting thing about the decorations though was the huge naughty/nice list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is day 14 Naughty or Nice. Where we find out that John is considered a saint for putting up with Sherlock. Also thanks again to PipMer for the comment.

When John arrived at the station from his last shift at the clinic he was surprised to see that it had been decorated. The last time that he had been there it had been just the plain office that he had come to expect, although it had been at least a month since he had been in. It seemed that his parts in the cases had been mostly field work and he had been so busy at the clinic that he didn’t really have time to follow Sherlock to the station while he tried to talk his way out of paper work.

The most interesting thing about the decorations though was the huge naughty/nice list. He was surprised to see that the list had everybody’s name on either side. It was the beginning of the month so most people were on the nice list but it baffled John a bit. It seemed to be an odd way to encourage your employees to behave in December. The list itself was comprised of a white board with numbers along the side and magnetic bars with people’s names on them.

His eyes curiously made their way to the number 1 nice spot and he was surprised to see his name there. His brow furrowed in thought as he made his way to where Sherlock was interrogating a suspect. He stepped into the room on the other side of the one way glass, where Lestrade was watching his boyfriend verbally shred the suspect. He glanced at the man and sat down to listen to the conversation, if you could call it that.

Lestrade had glanced at the doctor when he had come through the door. He figured that he could at some point get his friend to fill out some of the paperwork for their cases before he left. It seemed as though Sherlock was going to be a while.

“Hey John, I know that you just got here and really came here to get Sherlock but he is going to be a while and I really do need some of the statements looked over and signed if you wouldn’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind lead the way. It’s not like I have anything better to do while I wait for Sherlock to finished with the suspect,” John said and he followed the DI out of the room. The two of them made their way to Lestrade’s office where he immediately began to dig through his paperwork to find the statements.

“Oh, hey Greg? What is with that list in the lobby and why is my name on top,” John asked.

“That is something that I came up with this year. You see it is a competition to try and beat you out on the nice list. If they do they get a bigger bonus. I am using you because everyone can agree that you are a saint for putting up with Sherlock and that it anyone is to beat you, they deserve the bonus. It’s a point based system. They do things that are beneficial for work or their coworkers than they gain points. Anything bad loses points. Obviously whoever has the most points wins. You started out with 500 points because you manage to keep Sherlock civil.” John looked uncertain at being used as a measuring stick.

“What if no one beats me? I mean, 500 is a lot and it seems like just having Sherlock in the station would be enough to have people losing points left and right.”

“Oh, trust me, it is. That is part of the reason that I put it in place. If nobody manages to beat you then I have a deal that none of them can say a mean thing about him outload while they are on duty. That includes everyone. I have a theory that no one is going to be able to beat you, but we will see. Money can be a powerful incentive. Here are the statements, you just need to look them over and sign them.” Lestrade handed the doctor the statements.

Now that he knew about the competition John was curious to see how it was going to turn out. He certainly would like it if they had to lay off the insults while they were on duty. He became much more diligent at checking the score board as he came and went. He was also interested to notice that his number wasn’t static and if he managed to curb Sherlock’s acerbic tongue well enough he gained points.

As they went into the last week of Christmas there were several people who were only a few points away from beating John and the competition really heated up. There seemed to be an almost oppressive feeling of helpfulness around the station as everyone tried their best to get just a few more points.

It seemed as though Meredith Marcus in accounting was going to win when there was a fatal blow the day before the competition ended. Sherlock had been doing a lot of his own paperwork recently as Lestrade began to require him to fill it out before going on a case. He had left a stack of it on the table that he usually used for setting down his clues when he was working in the station.

A few of the people that were on the naughty list (with a balance below zero in points) had decided that it would be amusing to shred the stuff that he had already finished. To say the least Lestrade was not at all happy when he found out. Unfortunately almost everyone had known and no one had bothered to inform him. So, on the last day of the competition most of the Yarders lost 30 points.

They were not happy.

John on the other had was delighted as he knew that none of them could bad mouth Sherlock while they were on duty. It would make things a lot more pleasant while it was enforced. At the very least Sherlock could taunt them about losing to his boyfriend.


	15. Seasonal Illness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John takes care of Sherlock in an unusual way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter slipped my mind so it is a little late. But, here is day 15 Seasonal illness.

Sherlock gave a little bit of a forlorn sigh as he laid on the couch. This wasn’t unusual for the detective when he didn’t have a case, but his flat mate noticed that it had become much worse in the winter time. John was a doctor and he knew the symptoms of seasonal effectiveness disorder quite well. He thought that he might bring it up with Sherlock and see if he was willing to try some of the things that would help, but dismissed that idea almost right away. He knew that like most of the ways that he took care of Sherlock, he was going to have to do it in stealth mode.

The first thing that he did was call Mycroft and see if he could get his hands on a sunrise clock. Instead of a traditional alarm the sunrise clock would slowly release more light until the person woke up. It was designed to be a gentler way to wake people up from their sleep patterns. He had originally come across one with an American doctor who had one. John figured it would help a lot.

The next thing that he did was go ahead and get a light lamp. John assumed that part of the reason Sherlock had been so down this year was the fact that he always did his thinking in the dark. The lamp simulated sunlight and would hopefully help. Then he went and ordered several bottles of vitamin D that he planned on feeding to Sherlock. He wasn’t quite sure how it was going to happen but it was.

It took only a few days to get all of the stuff together but putting into action was a whole other deal. Sherlock had a tendency to not notice things in his own environment but he would certainly notice what John was doing and look into it. Then it would only be a short time before he managed to figure it out. John was well aware that he needed to be subtle about this and that it wasn’t going to be even remotely easy.

He started with gifting Sherlock the sun clock. It was a fairly natural thing to do as Sherlock’s had died several months ago and he had never bothered to replace it. Sherlock wanting to seem supportive of his boyfriend accepted the gift and made it a point to use it. John saw an heartening uptick in Sherlock’s mood since he had begun to use it and decided that he would move on to the other bits.

The vitamin D was next. This was a bit tough because it wasn’t like he could just grind it up into something or trick Sherlock into taking everyday without telling him what he was taking. He had the thought when they came back from one of their cases and Sherlock had simply accepted what John gave him to take without asking him what it was.

So whenever John went to give Sherlock a pain killer or antibiotic, he slipped in some of the vitamin D. Sherlock didn’t even notice or ask about the extra pills that his friend was giving him. It was a little concerning how trusting he was, but John knew that it was only because it was himself that was doing it.

The light lamp was tough and John spent days scratching his head and wondering how he was going to get the detective to used it. That problem solved itself as it turned out. Sherlock in one of his thinking frenzies knocked over the lamp that they kept in the living room and it needed to be replaced. From then on all John needed to do was keep the light on and make sure that it was on when Sherlock was doing all of his thinking.

John was correct in thinking that these things would help. He was incorrect in his assumption that Sherlock would notice in a few days or, if he was lucky, in a few weeks. It was nearly spring before Sherlock even realized what had happened and that was mostly due to the fact that he didn’t have the reverse.

Sherlock was painfully aware of the fact that during the winter months he became a little depressed. It always seemed as though because of the bad weather there were no good murders and the weather itself was so boring that he could hardly stand it. So, as the days grew short, so did his temper. His mood would worsen and he would find himself hardly even wanting to leave the flat.

However, when the days became longer. When the murders and the weather improved, he saw a dramatic uptick in his mood that would last all through spring, summer and the beginning of fall where it would start all over again. That didn’t happen this year.

Sherlock knew that something in his world must have changed for this to happen so he set his mind to it. It didn’t take long for him to realize that it must be John. It took a bit longer for him to figure out how his boyfriend had done it, at first believing that it was simply John’s presence itself that helped. Then when he had reviewed all of the evidence he noticed the lamp and the clock.

He had no clue about the Vitamin D.

When Sherlock confronted his boyfriend with the evidence, the blond congratulated his lover on being so clever as to figure out how he had done it. And was very pleased with the fact that he hadn’t discovered the third trick.

John never let it go.

The simple fact that he had gotten on over on his lover amused him to no end and he took great pleasure in gently teasing the detective about it. At first Sherlock pouted, but even he couldn’t deny the improvement his behavior and his mood. The fact that both Mycroft and Scotland Yard were complementing the doctor on his miracle didn’t hurt either.


	16. Yule Log

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Sherlock and dessert.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know nothing about the actual log form of the yule log tradition so this is the boys and dessert. This is day 16 Yule Log.

There were few traditions that Sherlock had carried from his childhood. The tense forced air of childhood Christmases had made most of them feel as though they had no meaning. That didn’t mean that none of them made it too his adulthood.

 

“What is it Sherlock,” John asked staring at the log shaped item on the table.

“It is a Yule Log. It is a type of dessert that is normally found in Belgium, France, Switzerland and Quebec. The baker takes a layer of sponge cake and smears it with berries, cream cheese, frosting or other sweets and then rolls it into the shape of a log. I am surprised that you have never seen one before. Trust me they are quite delicious and you are going to enjoy eating this one.”

John nodded as his boyfriend and then went back into the living room to read his newspaper. He had long since grown accustomed to his boyfriend’s seemingly random whims and by now simply rolled with the punches. Sherlock continued his baking escapade.

This year he was going to be making a very special version of it. He would start with a delicious chocolate sponge cake that would be so moist you didn’t even need tea. Then he would be adding in the wonderful raspberry preserves he had found and bought from a lady up north. After that there would be a layer of his grandmother’s super decadent whipped strawberry icing. Then it would be rolled and pressed until it set.

 

When he was young and still fairly naïve, Mycroft had at least attempted to make the holidays enjoyable for him. Although they were only four years apart, he had taken it upon himself. One of the ways that he did that was making sure that there was plenty of available sweets for the two of them to eat.

For the first few years Mycroft simply convinced the cook to make them or give them the sweets. After their parents found out and forbade the cook from doing so, Mycroft took a different approach. He found himself some recipes and taught himself  how to cook. Then he taught his brother how to do so.

Unfortunately, when you are ten and six respectively, you aren’t really allowed to make anything too complex, even if you were certain you could figure out how to do so.

One of the things that they made that first years was the Yule Logs. All they had to do was take some of the leftover sponge cake the cook was going to throw out and use it to make the logs in all different types of flavors.

It was some of Sherlock’s fondest memories of his brother and his childhood. Of course it was all ruined when 8 years later Mycroft left for university and Sherlock was left alone with complete strangers, also known as his parents.

 

It had taken years for Sherlock to start up the tradition again and although this was the first year he had done it since Mycroft had moved out, he still remembered how. The detective had decided that he should do it the year that he actually had someone to share it with.

John nearly cried when he heard that story. It was hard to think of the man he loved being so unhappy in his childhood that his brother making him sweets was something he cherished. It also made him think that if they were going to celebrate that they needed to invite Mycroft because it was his tradition originally and he probably missed it just as bad as Sherlock did. It had taken a lot of convincing but finally John had managed to get him to invite him over for the day.

 

Mycroft hadn’t a clue why he was going to see his brother and the doctor that day, which was unusual for him. At the doctors behest though he had removed all of the bugs from their flat and was left waiting for one of them to tell him. However, this usually meant that John kept him fairly updated on their conversations and that he didn’t have to listen to them having sex.

He had gone to Baker Street, arriving early as always, and gone up to see the men. He was curious as to what was going on but had faith that even though his brother might want to trick him, the good doctor would never allow it to come to pass.

His eyes scanned the untidy flat and immediately landed on John. The blond smiled up at him and gesture for him to have a seat. The doctor, ever the gentleman, offered him some tea and they sat in silence for a moment, both gathering their thoughts.

“What am I doing here John?”

“Sherlock told me about the tradition you had when you were young. He mentioned that although he hasn’t done it in years, that now that I am here he would like to again. I convinced him that if you started it originally, that you should be here as well to enjoy it. Right now he is trying to decide which one he wants to serve.” The last part was said in a soft voice, so as to not be overheard by the detective in the kitchen only a few feet away.

Mycroft was floored at the kindness he was being offered. It had seemed to unlikely that Sherlock would find some like John, who was so good and kind that it made him believe in heroes. But for him to give him back the chance to truly connect with his brother over something, it seemed as though John himself were and impossibility.

It also seemed as though that was his greatest concealer.

Nobody ever believed that the man who would help you no matter what, would ever be able to take the kill shot. But he would, for the right reasons. Sherlock of course was one of those reasons, but the way that Mycroft was seeing it he might be as well. The realization stole his breath away and all he could do was gaze at the man across from him and wonder where he had come from.


	17. Christmas Telly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Sherlock mock Christmas telly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of trouble writing this one and I have fallen behind in my writing schedule. I have through 19 written but my exhaustion from the semester seems to have caught up with me. I will try and make it through all 31 but I guess we will see if they are on time.  
> This is day 17 - Christmas telly.

“Do people actually watch this stuff John,” Sherlock’s disgust was clear in his voice. His husband of two months shot him an amused look and continued watching the program. John had been excited to spend his first Christmas married and was looking forward to sharing his traditions with the detective. One which he had started in college involved watching the sappy Christmas movies they liked to play none stop and mocking them.

It was something that he believed his husband would enjoy.

Apparently the man was aghast at the fact that people watched them for enjoyment. It amused John because they were actually a number of good Christmas movies out there. It seemed like you had to wade through all the syrup to find them though. It amused him to think that he was the first one to introduce his husband to this.

Currently they were laying on the couch together, both with cups of tea and a few biscuits. Mrs. Hudson (“just this once I’m not your housekeeper”) had given them a ton of biscuits because she had apparently made too many. They all knew she wasn’t fooling anyone but they still continued with the charade.

They were on their third Christmas movie when it became tiring. It was an unfortunate reality, but it eventually did become boring.  John flipped through the channels seeing if there was anything else on but then went ahead and shut off the telly. There was nothing on and both of them should probably get some sleep.

 

It was the next day that John decided to make a blog post about it. It was odd, but a number of his fans liked hearing about what they did in their everyday lives. He posted it and then went on with his day. When he checked back with it he was stunned.

 

There were 244 comments on that post and it had only been a few hours. He scrolled through the comments wondering what people were saying. Some of them had him laughing out loud. There were the usual haters who were mocking him and Sherlock and then there were the people who were actual fans of those Christmas movies. Then he scrolled all the people saying that they did the same kind of thing with their families.

Near the bottom of the list was a link and a short comment. Simply “watch this.” Curious and just a little bit paranoid he clicked on the link and was taken to a website. He watched the intro to a video and realized what it was. It was an entire video series of movies redone in some way. It was both mocking the movies and paying them homage. There were hundreds of videos but there was specifically a collection of them making fun of Christmas movies.

He watched about half of the one that he had been linked to and then paused it. He knew that these were too funny for him to keep to himself. He was going to have to share these with Sherlock.

 

Sherlock was annoyed when his husband dragged him over to the sofa and made him sit on it. He watched as his husband cued up something on his laptop. It took John a minute to find the video he wanted and then it took a minute for it to load.

“I did a blog post on the fact that we were mocking Christmas movies and then someone left a comment that had to do with this. I thought that you might enjoy it.”

“What it is,” Sherlock asked with a questioning look.

“Just watch it,” Was the response from his husband. The video finally loaded and started to play.

It was amusing in the over the top way that the creators must have meant for it but its humor itself was pretty funny. Sherlock could see why it was that someone had linked them to the site in the comments. After a while he found himself actually getting into the videos and he was amused to say the least.

He also found himself pleased that there was more that one of these videos and that, in fact, there was an entire site mocking movies of all kinds. The two of them watched through all of the Christmas ones and then they went ahead and watched all of the ones that had to deal with all the action movies. (Mocking all of the cheesy action movies was also a hobby of theirs)

Before the two detectives knew it, it was two in the morning and John had a shift starting at 8. He was well aware of the fact that if he didn’t get sleep than he was going to be no help in the clinic tomorrow. Sherlock pouted when John shut off the video figuring the same thing that John did.

After all, if he was too tired to go to the clinic tomorrow then he could stay home with Sherlock all day. It was a ploy that had worked several times in the past but he knew that John had eventually caught on to it and then was thwarting his attempts. He had even bought ear plugs.

 

Sure enough, John went to sleep that night and then got up to go to his shift at the clinic. At first Sherlock had pouted that his husband had left for work, but then he decided that he was going to do a little research on the people who made the videos.

He did a little bit of digging around and found the owners of the website. Then he did a little more digging around that found their bios of a few filmmaking sites. All it took was a few well placed phone calls and he realized why after all the years of doing films they had stayed anonymous. Originally they were movie mockers, now they were movie makers. It made him chuckle at the thought a little bit because they were obviously very clever to do it that way.

The two of them had directed the movie Sherlock and John had watched only a few nights ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to FionaMaeReadorDance and Daring D, for their reviews. You have helped at least renew my interest in trying to get them in on time so thank you. Also, if you enjoy these and like getting one a day, please review so that I know the people reading them are enjoying them.


	18. Christmas Crackers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas crackers and the Nutcracker Ballet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I found some inspiration and started to write some more. This is one of my favorites by far. This is day 18 Christmas Crackers.

Although they were popular nationwide, neither John not Sherlock had ever done a Christmas Cracker. Although Sherlock had neither the inclination nor the time to go out and get some Christmas crackers, he was not opposed to trying them when John brought them home. He knew that he would never really be able to deny the man and it was a little concerning.

After all, how dangerous could the mind of a detective be in the hands of someone who truly wanted to do harm.

It was a very good thing that the only person who had this hold over Sherlock was John.

So, when John brought home a small box of Christmas crackers one year Sherlock had gone along with it. Then something tragic happened, he enjoyed doing the Christmas crackers. It was horrible. One minute he is humoring John, and the next he is having fun. Therefore the next year Sherlock got the jump and ordered a different set of crackers.

While the ones from the shop were fun, he knew that there were several places out there that sold high quality ones with even more fun inside them. He found one company that put little ornaments inside of them. One company put tiny little utensils inside them. With so much variety it took a little time to find the right ones for his friend. He finally stumbled across the perfect crackers for them to do that year.

When Sherlock had discovered that John liked going to the theater he had gone ahead and ruthlessly took advantage of it. John hated it when too much money was spent on him so Sherlock simply treated him to the theater as many times as he was able. That actually turned out to be a lot of times.

They had gone so many times that Mycroft had gone ahead and given them his season tickets with the excuse that he was never able to make even a few of the plays. John had originally tried to protest but Mycroft had just given him a look. So, Sherlock took him all of the time. There was one in particular that John had asked about with a bit of embarrassment. It seems that he had always wanted to go to the Nutcracker ballet but had never been able to afford tickets. Sherlock had jumped at the chance and offered to take them both to one of the performances.

That was how he found the perfect Christmas crackers. He found a set that came with tiny little nutcracker ornaments. It was the perfect set for them and he knew that doing a couple of them right after the ballet would be the most perfect thing ever.

So, when the show rolled around the two of them got dressed up and made their way through their evening. First they had dinner at Angelo’s. The man had already been apprised of their evening and had been told to surprise them with dinner. He had done so quite marvelously with pizzaiola steaks. The delicious meal had been paired with a wonderful wine that had just completed the meal.

Then they had preceded to the ballet. John had been mesmerized. At first Sherlock had been concerned that he would lose interest about halfway through because it wasn’t the most interesting of things but he had been wrong.

Throughout the entire production John and been enraptured. It was nice to see him so delighted at something and Sherlock loved that he had been able to give him something that had always been a lifelong dream. When they had emerged from the event and caught a cab John had still been caught up in all of the excitement.

He, in rare form, was ranting about the costumes and the dancers. Sherlock knew that he needed for the night to end on a high note. He didn’t think that he could take it if his lover’s memory of the day was tainted by even the slightest amount of unhappiness. He hesitated at offering the crackers but decided that if he was going to do this then he was going to jump in head first and do this properly.

When the entered the flat and began their evening routine of tea, fire, telly, bed he set John to making the tea and then went to where he had hidden the crackers. He pulled out the box and removed two of the, for them to do. Then he went back to where John was waiting for him on the couch with the tea.

He looked surprised at what was in Sherlock’s hand and had hesitantly taken it. Sherlock smiled encouragingly at him and the two of them did the cracker. John of course won the first one (Sherlock could always tell which side was going to be the winning side and he always let John win first) and then John began to pull out the prizes.

There was the standard crown, although this one was made of high quality tissue paper rather than the cheaper stuff that they usually had. Then came the joke and finally the best prize of all. The tiny little nutcracker ornament.

John looked stunned at the sight of it and began to gently turn it over in his hands. At first Sherlock was nervous that he had done something wrong, but then John hugged him tightly. The two of them embraced for a moment before John withdrew and stood. Sherlock ignored it as the blond wiped a tear from his cheek and walked over to where their tree was.

With the utmost care, John went ahead and placed the ornament on the tree. It had been placed in the central part of the tree in one of the most eye catching spots. Then he walked back and sat down with his lover. Sherlock offered him the other end of the second cracker and this one he won. He tugged out his crown and his joke and finally he tugged out the tiny little nutcracker ornament. He then stood and hung it right next to the first one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to DaringD for the review. I also love to mock Christmas movies, especially the ones that I love. Also the crackers in the story are real. We use them in my family and there are a number of mini nutcrackers all over our tree.


	19. Traveling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Sherlock visit Germany.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, be forewarned, I have never visited Germany and am currently living vicariously through the boys. Thanks to those who left me kudos and here is Day 18 - Traveling.

To say that John was surprised when Sherlock told him a week before Christmas they were going on a trip would be an understatement. It seems that this year Sherlock wanted to get away from London for a few days and had wanted to go to the German Christmas Markets for years. That is why John found himself on a plane headed toward Germany for Christmas.

He wasn’t unhappy with the surprise trip, he had just wanted a little bit more notice before being whisked off. But the more that he thought about it, the more excited he became. The markets in Germany were famous world wide and thousands of tourists flocked there every year to see them. John had gone one year when he had been on deployment.

He had been only a few hours drive and had used one of his leaves to drive to where one of the markets were being held. It was one of the most amazing things that he had ever seen. The entire town had been lit with Christmas lights. Every where you looked there were vendors selling some of the best food he had ever tasted. He had thought he would never get to see them again.

Now, Sherlock was whisking him off to do a tour of the markets. They would be visiting half a dozen of the markets and spending their days shopping and eating. It would be a nice relaxing vacation hopefully. Although John was under no illusion that they would be completely without trouble, he knew that Sherlock would try his best to keep it a vacation rather than a work trip. As the airport came into sight John became even more excited and shot his friend an excited look. Sherlock gave him one of his rare genuine smiles in response.

 

They begun in Nuremburg. It was said to be one of the most beautiful of the markets and the area simply hummed with the vitality that came with a market.

Nuremburg was lit up by a thousand lights and the air was filled with the scents of good food. they stopped at vendors and saw the sites. They soaked in the air of Christmas that seemed to surround the entire place. With a quick stop at the toy museum, they were off to Dresden, their next destination.

 

Dresden was similar to Nuremburg in the air that surrounded the place but it was also refreshingly different. It seems that while Nuremburg favored the heartier meat flavors that the country had to offer, Dresden was famous for their cakes and their sweets. It seemed as though they had both gained half a stone by the time they returned to their hotel room.

They spent an extra day in Dresden as neither of them had the energy to get up from their sugar induced coma and move on. Sherlock also felt the need to take John to see a real traditional German Opera. They attended the opera in the evening after having taken a morning boat tour. Then they whisked off.

 

Cologne was probably the favorite of both of them. They took a trip on the Rhine, a tour of the chocolate museum and sampled all of the local beers. It was the last place on Sherlock’s itinerary and then they would be taking a train back to London. It was famous for its cathedral that was more than 600 years old and was astounding to look at. It also contained a famously large Christmas tree that the two of them gawked at for a little bit before moving.

The two of them also found themselves enjoying the market that was specifically set up for queer people. The ability to properly enjoy themselves while they were there was a rare one and they both greatly enjoyed not being stared at for holding hands or sneaking kisses.

 

By the time that they had returned home just after Christmas, they were both exhausted. Although the get away from London had been good for the both of them, it had also drained them. Thankfully it seemed as though most people were still under the impression that the two of them were still on vacation and therefore they were left alone.

 

The day that they returned found the detectives curled up together in front of the fire just enjoying being home. Their four day impromptu excursion had been beyond amazing but they were glad to have returned. Sherlock turned to his lover and knew in that moment the real reason he had decided on the trip.

He had thought he was going to propose.

It hadn’t happened on their trip. Sherlock had spent too much time attempting to find the perfect moment to ask the question and several had passed him already. Now though, he realized that it didn’t really matter that he hadn’t found the perfect moment because the two of them were perfectly happy with an imperfect moment.

He turned to his lover and when John gazed at him in questioning he reached into his pocket, without a word, and removed the box he had spent days carrying around and then opened it.

John gazed at the beautiful in surprise. He had thought that Sherlock was just bored of London and sick of all of the reporters that hounded them at any given moment. John picked up the ring and rubbed along the outside glancing at the detective as he did so, just to make sure that he was being sincere and then slipped it onto his finger.

Sherlock grinned in happiness when he saw his ring upon John’s finger and couldn’t wait for the two of them to finalize everything. None of the logistics mattered in that moment though because he realized that for now and forever John was his and no one would be able to say otherwise. It made him ecstatic. He leaned over for a kiss and the two of them kissed for a moment. Then Sherlock leapt to his feet and led his fiancé over to their bedroom to celebrate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I have written through the 22 but I seemed to have exhausted the side of my brain that deals with words and I need to take a few days off. Again it it my hope to have all of these out on time but I guess that we will see.


	20. Icicles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at one of John's quirks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is day 20 and thank you to all of you that have stayed with me this far. Not sure if I can continue posting every day but I will most certainly try.

While snow was hardly unusual in London in the wintertime this was just getting absurd. John inched out of the door and made a dash past the edge of the roof, never taking his eyes off the danger that lurked there. There were dozens of icicles on everyone’s roof, and it seemed that they were determined to kill as many Londoners as possible.

Unfortunately for John’s paranoia, he worked in a clinic and had seen first had how much damage an icicle could reek on an unsuspecting person. He stared at the icicles and gestured for Sherlock to come out. At first it had amused the detective to no end that John was so paranoid but now it was both annoying and reassuring.

They had been on a case when the suspect had taken off still in handcuffs. The man’s coordination had been off because his hands were behind his back. He had slipped on a patch of ice and collided with a building. The force had been just enough for him to knock off an icicle that fell. It had fallen straight down onto their suspect and he was still in the hospital recovering. Apparently he had been lucky to survive it at all. That was unfortunately only part of the reason that John was so concerned.

No matter how annoying it was though, Sherlock allowed John to go ahead and treat it this way. He was well aware that it was tough for John to think of something like that hurting Sherlock because there wasn’t a lot he could do about it. John was an easy going guy most of the time but he took Sherlock’s health and safety very important and wasn’t going to allow something as mundane as an icicle to kill him.

Sherlock was enjoying it a bit.

It was just so unusual for him to have someone so concerned about him. He also knew that he was a difficult man to live with and that if John was willing to put up with all of his mannerisms than he could deal with a few of the things that made John a bit paranoid. Some of them were in fact justified.

Like the fact that John didn’t want Sherlock running off to chase suspects or clues without him. It seemed that someone always saw that Sherlock was attempting to kill him when it was known he was on the case. It made for a dangerous working environment. So that at least was justified.

John’s pushiness about food however was not. He was perfectly able to take care of and feed himself. Just because he often chose not to didn’t mean anything and it wasn’t fair of John to trick him into eating. The doctor knew that he couldn’t resist it when John cooked. He knew it was cheating and he didn’t care. That mannerism wasn’t justified at all, but Sherlock was willing to put up with it for the sake of his flat mate.

 

For John, there were very few things about him that didn’t have a logical reason. His entire personality was based on necessity. That was one of the things that people liked about him. There was always a very good reason for the things that he had done. The icicle was a little bit irrational.

It had started, as most of these kinds of irrational fears did, as a thought in the back of his mind. He had spent hours in the clinic this year treating people with icicle related injuries and he knew very well the damage that they could do. Then he had read in the paper about a man who had been killed by a particularly heavy icicle and although it was most likely a hoax, it set his thoughts aflame. It also hadn’t been helped when one of their suspects had nearly killed himself on one.  

Then, Sherlock in particular had nearly been struck by one of the falling icicles. John had yanked the oblivious detective out of the way just in time and Sherlock hadn’t been brained by the frozen death stick. It was also the thought that if it happened then there would be nothing that he would be able to do about it. John couldn’t literally protect him from everything all of the time. He was well aware that it wasn’t rational, but it had begun the series of thoughts that he just couldn’t seem to get rid of.

He thought about what would happen in Sherlock had been struck and needed to go to the hospital. The he thought about what would happen if he had been struck and killed and that had been the beginning of a downward spiral. His thoughts had seemed to just get worse and worse until he found himself thinking about what he would do if he lost the detective.

The thought of going to back to the joyless life that he had been living before he had become Sherlock’s blogger/boyfriend nearly had him in tears and he knew that if he was to lose the detective that he would probably follow him to the grave soon after and nothing would be able to stop it. So, he gave into the urge to simply fuss an unbelievable amount and did so.

 

So while Sherlock was aware of part of the reason (the injured suspect), he wasn’t aware of nearly the whole reason and he probably never would be as John forced himself to not dwell on the self-destructive way of thinking.

 

Sherlock humored the doctor for a number of reasons really. There was the fact that no one had worried about him quite to the extent that they were looking out for all of the mundane dangers and it was a good feeling. The other things was the fact that he always enjoyed all of the attention that John payed to him.

He was willing to allow John to fuss as much as he would like because to Sherlock, any attention from the man was good attention.

Needless to say that this was probably going to continue to go on until all of the ice melted.


	21. Winter Solstice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5 times someone celebrate the winter solstice +1 who ignored it altogether.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I have started writing again and I will probably make everyday so yay! Also This is day 21 - Winter Solstice

For the longest period of time the winter solstice had been the beginning of the end. Countless civilizations had celebrated the solstice as the longest night of the year. It was only uphill from then on. While the season up to that point had had the nights grow longer and the days grow shorter, this would swap them and the days would lengthen into summer. It seemed as though everyone had their own way of celebrating.

Molly

Molly wasn’t a very superstitious sort of person. You couldn’t be if you are going to be a mortician and you definitely couldn’t be if you were going to be friends with Sherlock Holmes. However, there was always something just a little bit spooky about the solstice. Something about the fact that the night was the longest of the year just seemed to chill her to the bone. Something about the fact that the next day it would all change and the days would begin to lengthen, just seemed to intrigue her.

She, without out fail ever year, always took the day off. She had several things that she did that day no matter what. The first was that she light a candle. It was always something with a faint comforting scent. Something that smelled of pine or of strawberries that helped ease the oddness of the day. Then she would take a long hot bath and drink a glass of wine. Then she would eat a piece of meat that would be so delicate and delicious it would make her forget all about the day. There was a distinct possibility that Molly simply took the day off to pamper herself before the holidays began.

Greg Lestrade

There were no shortage of whackos in world and they all seemed to want to come out on the solstice. Something about the longest night of the year had all the nut jobs out killing. Therefore every day on the solstice Greg would look up to the heavens and pray to whoever was listening that the “sacrifices” of the day would be ignored or punished and not rewarded. He didn’t usually believe in all of that stuff, but on the chance that any of it was true he was going to continue doing it every year.

Mrs. Hudson

Mrs. Hudson was not the sort of person that put much stock in rituals or in praying to someone who may or may not answer. Her years married to a monster had shown her that you couldn’t rely on someone else to try and save you because they probably weren’t coming. Therefore she had always relied on herself. So, in one of the most superstitious, religious days of the year (depending on which religions that we were talking about here) she would honor herself.

She wasn’t going to be putting stock into mythical beings or praying to a god. She was just going to celebrate herself. And she did. Heartily. On this day she would ignore everyone and everything and just do as she please. Sometimes she would just stay in her jimjams all day and sometimes she would dress up a go out. Sometimes she would lay about in her flat and drink tea and eat biscuits. Sometimes she would go ahead and just take herself to the most expensive restaurant in town.

It was her day and nobody would ever take it from her. Thankfully her boys were more than willing to keep everything away from her on this day.

Moriarty

Jim Moriarty was one of the whackos that Lestrade mentioned. A drama queen to the extreme there was something innately pleasing to him to murder on that day. There was something about it that enchanted him and it was easy to see that he was at his most extreme on the solstice.

He simply let loose. He only did in on this day and he used every minute of the extraordinarily long night to cause as much chaos and madness as one person could. It was one of the things that had Lestrade working overtime, but Jim didn’t care about people or laws. The next day he would be back to his regular calculated self but on that one night, he simply went wild.

Mycroft

Mycroft was the epitome of control in his every day life. He had to be if he was going to match wits against the world leaders and then corral his brother. But, one of the only days he truly took off during the year was the solstice. Most of the time his phone was within a moments reach and he was ready for the next crisis. Even Christmas wasn’t safe from this.

But one day a year he would turn over the controls to his more than qualified assistant and simply take the day off. It was said to be a miracle by those under him and they all knew that if they didn’t do everything to make it run smoothly while he was gone, they would soon regret it.

+1 Sherlock and John

Sherlock, like with most things, never cared about the solstice. He had deleted all that he knew on it and had a tendency to simply ignore it. Oh, he knew that other people did things to celebrate it and he would even assist Mrs. Hudson in her endeavors to enjoy the entirely to herself but he never really even noticed it.

It wasn’t until John pointed out that Mycroft took the day off that he went ahead and started tracking the date. After all, what better day to run around solving crime and doing as he pleased than the day that his brother took off.

It was also a very special day because it was the only day that John would allow them to have sex in the living room. So, Sherlock ignored all of the ridiculous traditions that other people did and simply enjoyed what it meant for him that those people did those traditions.

He never even seemed to realize that he had created traditions of his own.


	22. Under the Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John tries to keep Sherlock from knowing what his gift is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one spans over a period of several year. This is also day 22 - Under the tree.

Sometimes it seemed as though Sherlock was nothing but a little kid when Christmas arrived. He bugged people and tried to (most of the time correctly) deduce what they had gotten them. Unfortunately for the detective, John  had eventually spent enough time around him that it didn’t really bother him and Sherlock was always left guessing whether or not he had gotten it right until Christmas. Therefore he needed to come up with a different approach on how to find out what his gift was.

 

The first tactic that he had tried was badgering and deducing. He would needle and whine for hours but John never gave it up. The doctor had become to accustomed to the detective for it to be bothersome. In fact, he quite enjoyed it when Sherlock was trying to get the answer out of him because he wasn’t making a big mess in their flat with an experiment or his boredom. It was a lot less annoying for John to tune out his flat mate than clean up another explosion.

 

After the badgering, he usually started with snooping. He was a detective after all and he knew where John would hide the list of things he was getting people. It was usually tucked into a book that he was reading or neatly typed on his laptop. After the first few years though, John simply quit putting what he was getting Sherlock on the list. It wasn’t hard to remember the gifts because Sherlock was the only person not on his list. Sherlock didn’t care about other people’s gifts and soon started looking for other avenues in which to explore.

 

When the list didn’t work, he soon moved on to seeing if he could find the gift itself. It wasn’t really all that hard. He and John lived in the same flat and it really wasn’t that big. John usually hid them up in his old bedroom. Now that he and Sherlock were sharing a bedroom it had mostly become storage and the doctor figured that he wouldn’t ever have a reason to go up there. Thankfully he had the foresight to wrap them as Sherlock found the gifts tucked in the back of the tiny closet and John needed to find a new hiding spot. He had come just in time to see the detective shaking his gift and trying to deduce what it was.

It took Sherlock nearly three days to find the next spot, if only for the fact that John had been so clever with it. Sherlock was used to looking in closets, cupboards and behind furniture. This is where he had hidden in it plain sight. Someplace that Sherlock never would think to look because it was so obvious it wasn’t obvious.

He hid it under their shared bed. Sherlock had spent hours combing the apartment and checking behind things in the usual hiding spots. Her hadn’t thought that the doctor would hide it in someplace that Sherlock rarely ever was but wouldn’t really suspect, because they slept together in that bed. Sherlock only found it because he had dropped his sock and had to retrieve it. He had pouted for a week when John wouldn’t let him open it till Christmas.

It became sort of a game at that point.

John would buy the gift and immediately wrap it, then he would hide it from Sherlock. At this point it had been going on for several years and both of them had wised up to each other’s old tricks. John knew that hiding in plain sight several weeks before Christmas actually was, was one of his best strategies. Sherlock was so intent on finding it, he didn’t realize that it was hidden in plain sight long before he had begun to look for it.

Sherlock figured it out after a while but he knew that John was going to realize he had figured it out. So then John had it wrapped in plain brown paper and set it on the counter. Sherlock spent weeks assuming that it was some kind of food and never touched it. After all, he wasn’t allowed to touch food, that was John’s avenue. He was stunned when it was revealed that it was his gift and he realized that his husband (of two years at this point) had used on of his own tricks against him. After all, it isn’t lying if you let them assume something and didn’t correct them.

Sherlock was both proud and annoyed. But he conceded that he had been bested and moved on to figuring out the next tactic. The last one was the one that bested him forever.

John would receive that gift and just set it out, wrapped, underneath the tree. It was in plain sight of the entire living room and John’s wrapping was so meticulous that Sherlock could never even think to try and open it without him knowing.

It made the detective crazy. There was his gift, so neatly wrapped up and ready to be opened and he couldn’t. John was immune to his deducing to get you to tell me what it is approach. He was forced to look at it for weeks never getting to know what it was or what John had chosen for him. Everyday he would stare at it and try to will it in to giving him the answer. It never did.

Then he was back to trying to get it out of John. When John wouldn’t budge on the issue he began to ask their friends and associates. Sometimes they knew, but they had known him for too long and was able to keep something small like this a secret.

So Sherlock, for all of his cleverness, was defeated in his search by something that got all of the world’s children as well. It wasn’t clever hiding spots or purposeful lying, it was simply the fact that it was under the tree and wrapped and he couldn’t do a thing about it.

 


	23. Family Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John meets Sherlock's parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, please remember that these are a collection of one shots and not all of them are part of the same universe. It is possible that they could be with most of them but not really this one. Nonetheless this is actually one of my favorites. So here is day 23 - Family Visit.

To say that John was nervous would be an understatement. He was more than nervous, he was terrified. This was finally going to be the time that he would meet Sherlock’s parents. He and the detective had been going out for several months at this point and he wanted to make a good impression. He had consulted Mycroft on what to wear (Sherlock had suggested nothing at all, so he didn’t get a say) and was dressed in smart casual.

He was dressed in a cashmere sweater in a blue that matched his eyes and a pair of black slacks. Sherlock had taken one look at him and announced that he looked too good for dinner and needed to change. John rolled his eyes at the pronouncement and then just herded his boyfriend out of their flat. A car was waiting for them at the curb to take them to the Holmes estate.

 

Victoria Holmes _adored_ John. 10 minutes into the visit he found himself wondering why he had been nervous at all. After all the woman was unbelievably charming and sweet. He could sense a razor sharp edge underneath that she would pull on if needed, but she was wonderful.

 She also had the most delightful stories about Sherlock when he was young.

John had also met Sherlock’s other two brothers. Sherringford and Quentin. Sherringford was your classic British man without an ounce of humor. Quentin was a little more laid back but even he had an air of seriousness about him that didn’t match Sherlock at all.

They were all older than Sherlock it seems that the detective was the baby in the family and was treated as such. It drove him crazy. He had always hated to be treated as a child even when he was a child. It also seemed that Mycroft was the brother that as closest to Sherlock, as much as one could be.

Sherringford, who was the oldest, seemed to be so concerned about their estate and the family finances that he hardly spared his brother a thought. Quentin, while closest in age and location in Sherlock, was such a workaholic that he barely even recognized himself. It did seem that Mycroft was the only one that Sherlock saw regularly and the only one that made the effort to see him.

 

It grated on John’s nerves a little as he went to see his sister on a regular basis even though she was drinking again and Sherlock was clean. It also made him like Mycroft quite a bit more.

After all, Sherlock wasn’t an easy person to get along with, especially when he is being purposefully obtuse. John was well aware of that. Mycroft, despite the insults and the anger, was still a part of his life. A real part, not the way that his parents were. Because although, they were charming and seemed like good people, John and Sherlock had been going out for a year and a half and neither had come to visit.

The only one of them that he had ever met was Mycroft and it ticked him off. So while he was polite to Sherlock’s family he wasn’t overly friendly and there was a hint of coolness in his voice that everyone seemed to have picked up on. After dinner and the exchange of gifts Sherlock and John opted to go back to their flat.

The drive was quiet as both of them were immersed in though and neither of them could seem to break the silence. They went to bed without hardly another word.

 

The morning brought a visit from Mycroft and it was plain to see that he wanted to discuss the events of the previous day, but wasn’t quite sure how to broach the subject. It was an unusual situation from him, not being able to find the words that he needed.

He gazed at his brother and the good doctor while thoughts floated through his mind. He had always known that John was more than what meets the eye, but he had never quite realized the extent of John’s intelligence. It was easy to miss or ignore it in the wake of Sherlock’s drama and flair. Nonetheless it was there.

“John, I wanted to ask you about the coolness that I detected yesterday at dinner. I have a fairly good idea as to the reason, but it is usually good to hear it firsthand.” John’s jaw clenched for just a minute and then he relaxed back again.

“I am not as clueless as people think. I may not be anywhere near your level or Sherlock’s level of intelligence, but I am no dunce. The thing that I specialize in is people. I have to know how they think, how they operate, to be able to treat them effectively or I am useless. I can put two and two together thank you very much. And as charming as your parents were, as nice as they seemed, I can tell that they expected you and your siblings to raise Sherlock. Then they come along and act as though they had done it themselves. So yes, I was a little cool but I find it hard to be nice to people like that.”

Sherlock was surprised at his friends observations but not at his feelings. He had several times expressed disdain for the way that he had been raised. It seemed as though Mycroft was just as surprised as he sat there in silence thinking for a moment.

“It is obvious to me that you are angry on behalf of my brother and if I sense correctly, a little bit on behalf of me. I am however, thankful that you decided to express this only through a coolness to your words and without a scene. Your restraint is admirable especially since even I, have occasionally lost my temper over this kind of thing.” John gave a nod to the way of the words picking up on the second hidden thank you and said nothing, because there was nothing left to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow's chapter is going to be very different as the prompt was Holy Night. I gave John the same kind of feeling towards Christmas Eve as most non-denominational Christians have so If that bothers you, please just skip it. I debated about posting it or something else but then I decided to just post it. It will however, be the only religious one in these. As always please review if you enjoy the story.


	24. Holy Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn’t well known but John clung deeply to his faith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So those of you who either did read yesterday's note or who missed it, today's prompt is Holy Night. I gave John the same kind of feeling towards Christmas Eve as most non-denominational Christians have so If that bothers you, please just skip it. I debated about posting it or something else but then I decided to just post it. It will however, be the only religious one in these. As always please review if you enjoy the story. 
> 
> Again this is day 24 - Holy Night.

It wasn’t well known but John clung deeply to his faith. He had once made a plea for his own life in Afghanistan and it had been answered. He wasn’t a die hard Catholic or even part of CoE but he had faith and he knew that it was enough.

There were few things that could shake his faith but his return had been one of them. He had found himself in a place where he had no life to live. No purpose, no friends and nobody who would notice if he had gone missing. In those few dreary months he had begun to doubt there was a God and had begun to lose faith. Until he had met Sherlock.

The detective claimed that he had saved his life with the shot to the cabbie, but John was well aware of the fact that Sherlock had been the one to save him from himself. Within the span of a few hours, Sherlock had brought excitement and life back into his world along with a purpose. He was exactly what the army doctor had needed. That event, had solidified his faith to the point where he was fairly sure that nothing could ever shake it again.

 

He wasn’t a die hard religious person so he didn’t have a whole set of rituals that he went through on Christmas eve, but he was religious enough that he had a few traditions. One of those was the fact that he would pray and thank God for all of the good that had happened that year and pray that the following year would be either just as good or even better.

He usually did it after dinner. Dinner was never a set menu, but he did usually try and make it nice. It was after all the Holy Night. Sometimes it was a nice prime rib, others high quality steaks and other times it was a ham. The first year that he spent with Sherlock he had been uncertain. John didn’t know for sure, but it was very likely that the detective was an atheist and he didn’t want to make things awkward between them. None the less he went ahead and did his traditions including the praying.

Sherlock didn’t say a word.

Either he was so unbothered by it that he tuned it out, or he was religious and it wasn’t unusual to him. All John knew was that he was able to say his prayers and make his meals without feeling pressured to be secretive about it. Several of his buddies in Afghanistan had insisted that he not pray in front of them and it had not only made him feel alone and cut off, it had also made it hard to be friends with them. It didn’t bother Sherlock though and that made the army doctor happy.

Not only had he not been bothered by the praying he had also partook in the meal that John had made. It seemed that he could be tempted into eating if it was the right kind of food. It seemed that the crown roast that John had gone ahead and made, was a hit as Sherlock even asked for seconds. It was a more than pleasant evening and it had set the tone for the following day.

Christmas itself had been so enjoyable without John worrying about his flat mate’s reaction that he had made plans for the following year.

The next Christmas had seen John deciding to go along with his plans. He usually celebrated the Holy Night the way that he had for years but this year he was going to do something else. In honor of the fact that Sherlock seemed to be accepting this year he was going to decorate the tree and he was going to put an angel on the top. This may seem like it wasn’t that big of a deal, but to him it was.

It had been part of their tradition when he was a kid that they always had an angel on top of the tree. When he had grown up though he had never had a tree and therefore had never been able to have an angel. This year he was going to put up a tree and he was going to place an angel on top.

When Sherlock noticed the tree he didn’t say anything about it, just carried on as he usually did. However, he was obvious that he was thinking about something and was probably going to mention it. Sure enough, three days after he had put up the tree Sherlock asked him about the angel.

“It was an old tradition in my family. An angel always went on top of the tree, not a star, an angel.”

“I didn’t even know that you were religious,” Sherlock commented. John gave a smile at the words, it seemed the detective did miss things after all.

“I am not super religious but there are a few things that I do. Unfortunately, churches aren’t very accepting of the way that I approach faith and therefore, I find myself not wanting to attend a church regularly.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well most people who are part of faith approach it with the same over dramatic spiritual worship. I have always been the sort of person who nourishes my faith through my mind. I have also disagreed greatly with the way that a lot of pastors interpret the bible and the fact that they never seem to have the emphasis on the things that I think are important.”

“I suppose that makes sense. What are we having for Christmas eve supper this year?” John knew that he shouldn’t be surprised at his friends easy acceptance but he was and again he found himself thankful for the detective.

“I have decided to make trout almandine. It will be delicious I promise. I will also probably make some mashed potatoes to go along with it. For dessert I went ahead and made raisin pie.”


	25. It's Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas with kid!lock. John spends Christmas with his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas. Today's is kid!lock with John spending Christmas at the Holmes house. Yay! This is one of my favorite ones. Tomorrow's is essentially a continuation of this one so you have that to look forward to. I hope all of you have wonderful days. (Including those who don't celebrate. You guys deserve nice days too.)

Christmas at the Holmes’ was a quiet affair. It was several hours of opening presents in a calm manner and then eating meals in a dignified way.

Sherlock absolutely hated it.

This year was going to be special though. This was the first year that he was going to have his best friend visiting on Christmas, all day long. That meant that all of the boring things were better because John always listened and laughed at his jokes. Even if they weren’t really funny.

He and John had been friends for several years now, so John was more than accustomed to the routine at the Holmes’ manor. That meant he would show up in clean slacks and the jumper that Sherlock’s mother had bought for him and he would follow all of the boring grown up rules.

It also meant that Sherlock had a playmate that was almost the same age as him, which was one of the reasons that they had decided to allow John to visit on Christmas. The other was the fact that John’s family had very little time or affection to spare for the boy and he deserved to have at least one Christmas where he was happy and looked after.

Even if it was with the family of his best friend.

Indeed, Sherlock’s mother was so enamored with John that if it had been possible she would have adopted him years ago. Even now if they had the slightest bit of inkling and proof that John was being mistreated physically, they would have yanked him out of there immediately. It was limited to mentally and emotionally though, and without the physical evidence that came with physical, they would never be able to prove it.

They could invite him over to Christmas though and make it a happy time for him. So that is exactly what they were doing that year. The Watsons weren’t a large family, average more than anything. With two kids and a middle class income, they were neither the top nor the bottom. Unfortunately, it seems that Harriet was the favorite among both parents. For her mother because she was a girl and for her father because they shared so many interests.

John spent a lot of time with the Holmes family. So that was the reason that he was currently in their home eating breakfast with them. It had been decided that he would come over Christmas eve and return to his home on the 26th. That way he was able to experience the entire Christmas day without having to worry about his parents. It was on that day that the Holmes family would be giving him a very special gift.

It was still a few hours before they would do their customary present opening so after breakfast Sherlock and John ran off to play. Sherlock had the most interesting toys and books so there was more than plenty to do. It was, however, Christmas and neither of his parents believed that they would actually play for that long so they were planning on capitulating and allowing them to open gifts early this year. It was, after all, a special occasion.

Victoria and Scott Holmes called their children and John into the living room so that they could begin to open presents. Mycroft was sitting in the chair, 14 apparently being too old to be really excited about opening presents, and the two ten year-olds were sitting on the floor waiting. Victoria cast her eyes over the three of them and couldn’t help but smile at the boys.

It was already painfully obvious that John Watson was going to end up short, while her younger son was most likely going to end up fairly tall. There would eventually be a great height distance between them but right now it was just a few inches. John was much more stocky while Sherlock as whippet thin. It was a study in contrast almost. It also made her very glad that John Watson was her son’s friend.

John was everything that Sherlock wasn’t. He was humble, quiet, thoughtful and compassionate. He also didn’t seem to have the same kind of flair for drama that Sherlock had. He seemed to bring out the best in her son and he seemed to balance him as well. Sherlock was just as good for John.

He was quiet, and the sort of person who wouldn’t stand up for himself, even if he could. He was overly polite to people who didn’t deserve it and had a tendency to be reclusive. To try and isolate himself from everybody and that just wouldn’t do. Their gift would hopefully do both the boys some good. At the very least things couldn’t be worse than they were now.

They began with the big ones of course, as all children do. Victoria and Scott had gone ahead and acted as though John was simply one of their children and gotten him the same amount of presents that they had Sherlock. The boys took it in turns with John thanking them for every single gift and Sherlock promising to share every one of his gifts with John. They were an interesting pair to say the least. When they reached the final presents, there was wrapping paper littered everywhere and there was a distinct lack of gift for John to go along with Sherlock’s.

At least there was until Scott handed him a large envelope after Sherlock had opened his book of beekeeping. Sherlock looked over in interest. John had a bit of a confused look on his face as he opened the envelope and looked inside of it.

“It’s the same school that Sherlock is going to go to. I also have gone ahead and requested that the two of you be roommates. It is all paid for and I have already spoken with you parents.” Sherlock curious as to what the gift actually was, took the packet of information and realized that it was for a boarding school. As the effect sunk in of what this would mean for him and his future he leapt to his feet and hugged both of them. Victoria just smiled as she returned the embrace.


	26. Cleaning up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day after Christmas with kid!john and kid!sherlock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically a continuation of yesterdays. Here is day 26 - cleaning up.

The day after Christmas was always an interesting one. It usually started, even before breakfast, with Sherlock and Mycroft in an argument. That was why Victoria was surprised when she was woken to the butler rather than her sons yelling at each other. At least until she remembered the other guest they had and figured that with John there that year he was keeping Sherlock entertained enough that he wasn’t arguing with his brother.

She slipped out of bed and after dressing in warm clothing made her way down to her youngest son’s room. She peaked in there and saw that both boys were still sound asleep. This was unusual for Sherlock and she again attributed it to John.

She was right that it was John of course but not in the way that she believed. She thought that having him there soothed Sherlock back to sleep and curbed his boredom until a better time of day. What really happened was the fact that John and Sherlock had stayed up way too late talking and were still catching up on their sleep. It didn’t much matter because that morning was quiet and calm rather than the usual boxing day fights.

She hurried back to her bedroom and retrieved her camera. When she peaked in the room again John had tucked his face into Sherlock’s neck and was snuggled into his side. She had to resist the urge to coo and turned off the flash. After taking as many pictures as was reasonable, with a few more for security she retreated from the bedroom and made her way down to where her eldest and her husband were eating breakfast.

“Where are the boys,” Scott asked with a glance around the room. Usually Sherlock would be baiting Mycroft on boxing day.

“Still asleep. Cuddled together and so cute I had to take a picture. Or two. Or 25.” Mycroft rolled his eyes at his mother but Scott lit up. Soon the two of them were cooing over the picture and ignoring their breakfast. Knowing that he wasn’t very likely to get much out of them, Mycroft stood and left the room to make a tactical retreat. Besides, there were a few of his Christmas gifts that he needed to read and he was going to enjoy the quiet while it lasted.

 

When the boys did wake, it was half past nine and Sherlock didn’t want to let his friend go. He made an unhappy noise as John made to get up and wrapped his arms around John’s waist. John gave a soft sigh but snuggled back into his friend. After discovering that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep anymore Sherlock opened his eyes and gazed into the clear blue ones of his best friend. It was still hard to imagine that his best friend would be attending the same secondary as him.

He had been dreading going off to school. He would be surrounded by stupid people who were likely to be mean to him. Now he was going to have his best friend there. That made it infinitely more tolerable. John would talk to him and not be mean to him. He would also defend him if other people were being mean to him. Sherlock was now excited for next year’s school to start as he would get to spend everyday with his best friend.

 

John was also excited but for a few different reasons. He was excited that he would get to spend lost of time with Sherlock but he was also excited to get away from his family. He knew that things would be a lot better if he was simply out of the way for most of the year and this did it for him. He was also excited because this was a very good school and he wanted to be a doctor. It would make his chances of getting into a good program much better.

The two of them took their time getting out of bed. They had nowhere to be and nothing to do so they dallied a bit and teased each other gently. When they had finished dressing they made their way down to the breakfast table where the meals were waiting for the under warming plates. They sat down to a hearty breakfast and then moved on to the next part of the day.

It was a tradition that every year on boxing day they would help clean the kitchens. None of the servants worked on Christmas day and only a limited few worked on boxing day. So on the 24 everything for the following day’s meals would be prepped and then the Holmes would cook the meals themselves. On the 26, all four of them would chip in to help clean the kitchen. That year of course, John would be joining them.

The work seemed to flash by for the boys. John had the ability to make even the most unpleasant tasks seem like a game and soon they were embroiled in a competition of who could finish them the fastest. The last task that they were set to was washing all of the dishes. Victoria should have known it was a mistake but she didn’t think about it until she returned to find the two of them soaking wet but grinning at one another.

Rolled her eyes at the sight of the boys covered in soapy water, she sent them back upstairs so that they could go ahead and change into dry clothing. With all of the chores done for the day and several hours until dinner the two of them retreated to Sherlock’s bedroom. He had received a chemistry kit and he couldn’t wait to try it out.

Meanwhile, Scott wrapped his arms around his wife and pressed a  kiss to her cheek. She sighed in his embrace and wondered what the future held for the two boys. If they would continue to be the friends that they were then or if life would tear them apart.


	27. "Thank God that's over"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Sherlock reflect on Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like I am going to make it. I have all but two finished (and those two are started) so that means I will have updated every say for December. Yay! This is day 27 - Thank God that's over. Enjoy.

“Thank God that’s over,” announced Sherlock as they climbed into the back of the car that was waiting to take them back to Baker Street. John rolled his eyes.

“It wasn’t actually that bad you drama queen. If you would just resist the urge to pry at your brother it would be a lot more pleasant as well. Besides, you are just annoyed that your mother showed me baby photos and told stories about you from when you were young.” Sherlock hmphed at the comment and pouted out of the window.

“It isn’t fair. She never tells stories about Mycroft when he was young and foolish.”

“That’s because he has always been old and crotchety.” The two of them looked at each other before bursting out into laughter at the comment. After their giggles had died down John laid his head on Sherlock’s shoulder and they fell into a comfortable silence. The drive back into London was a long one so even though they had fallen into silence for a time, didn’t mean that they would stay that way for the entire trip. That was made obvious when Sherlock decided to make his thoughts known.

“Thank God that’s over.” John sent him a scandalized look and it held for ten whole seconds before the two of them were devolving in giggles again. John gave Sherlock a few smacks on the arm and tried to regain his breath enough for him to make another comment.

“You can’t say that. They are your family. Although I have to say I have never seen anyone so relieved as your family’s cook when Sherringford’s wife finally left. I have never seen anyone send back so many plates of food in my entire life.” The two of them were soon wheezing in the back of the car and found that they couldn’t help themselves.

The rest of the ride home was filled with laughter and humorous comments and they found the drive home seemed to take much less time than the one out there did. After all, it wasn’t filled with the dread that meeting Sherlock’s family for the holiday’s always seemed to do. When they arrived home at their flat the two of them took a minute to strip off all of their winter clothing and then head upstairs.

As soon as they were in the flat and the door was locked, Sherlock immediately stripped off all of his clothes and face planted into the couch. John looked on in amusement as he went to change into something a little more comfortable than the overly formal wear that was expected at Holmes Manor. When he had changed into jeans and a jumper he went back downstairs to see that Sherlock had gone ahead and started a fire for the both of them to relax by.

He smiled as he joined his lover on the couch and the two of them sat in silence for a few minutes. Then the rehashing of the event began. It was a holiday tradition that the two of them would wait, saving up all of their complaints, until they had returned home and would release them from the trunk they locked them in. It was a time honored tradition that the two of them couldn’t just ignore.

“I can’t believe that your mother had the gall to bring up marriage again. Especially after the last time that Mycroft laid into her. I know that she is your mother but she should really lay off. She keeps pressuring us than I am going to give into your demands that we elope and that will be that.”

“I know. She has the same old song and dance. You would think that after a while she would grow tired of it but she never seems too. What I can’t believe was the fact that Sherringford and the nerve to go ahead and point out Quinten’s new relationship in front of my parents. Even I have more tact and kindness than that. Now he is going to be the target of her relentlessness. That of course won’t mean that she lets up on us. Nope that will never end.”

John nodded in agreement. The holiday had been one of the worst that they had had. With Quinten in a new relationship and the two of them still not married it had been a legitimate concern that Victoria would nag the two of them to death. She hadn’t managed it, probably because they had taken off as soon as they possibly could.

“I am not surprised that Mycroft said hardly two words the entire time that we were there. He had the sense to keep his mouth shut about his everyday life and not be nagged. Now if only there were a chance that we could let something out, but I am not cruel enough to do that to your brother, pain in the butt he may be.” Sherlock chuckled but agreed with his lover.

It would not be a good idea to antagonize the person that they often needed to that degree. Plus that was a bit of cruelty that Sherlock wasn’t able to wish on anyone. The two of them continued to discuss the holiday with Sherlock’s parents. There were a number of anecdotes exchanged that the other hadn’t heard. It seemed that that holiday both Victoria and Scott had been determined to get the boys alone as many times as was possible.

This continued long into the night with them watching as the fire began to die down and the flat grow cool with the night air. Eventually the two of them decided that even though they didn’t need to be anywhere the next day, it would probably be a good idea to get at least a little sleep before the next day. It was going to take a while for the two of them to recover. Thankfully this only happened once a year and they had a whole other year to prepare for next Christmas.


	28. Toys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The days after Christmas were always an interesting time to say the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is day 28, Toys. I only have one more to write so thanks to all of you have stayed with me through the month of December.

The days after Christmas were always an interesting time to say the least. For most of the world’s children they were the days that kids played with their new toys as much as their parents would allow them to. This was also the same for a consulting detective at 221B Baker St. He had been given a number of fun gifts that he was dying to try out. There was only one thing keeping him from locking himself in the flat until he was so bored that he would start shooting the wall.

John Watson. His flat mate was apparently determined that he should at least try and do something productive. One of the things that he had been gifted with was a set of experiments that had to do with combining sound and taste to see if they had a large effect on one another. It had been given to him by Mrs. Hudson who had thought that he would enjoy it. It took quite a while to complete all of the experiments so she figured that it would be a good distraction for at least a few days.

Sherlock had wanted to simply do all of the experiments at once and not do anything for three days. John had insisted that he help with the new case Lestrade had brought to them. It seems that murderers didn’t take off a few days for Christmas like everyone else in London, so they didn’t get too. It had the detective pouting but he had gone along with John to help with the case. It only took him about an hour to have all of the evidence that was needed to convict the murderer and they were on there way back to their flat.

Sherlock figured that he probably wouldn’t have time to play with Mrs. Hudson’s gift but he might have time to do some work with Lestrade’s. Lestrade had given him a set of the most complex wood puzzles in the entire world. It was said that hardly anyone was able to complete even one of them and the number of people who could complete all of them could be counted on one hand.

He had become engrossed in the experiments and hadn’t had a chance to see if they really were as challenging as the packaging claimed. It would kill an hour maybe too. John of course had to go ahead and ruin that idea as well when he claimed that Sherlock needed to go through and complete his statement for the yard before he was allowed to play around with the puzzles. John claimed that he had more important things to do that play with a set of toys that his friend had given him. Sherlock had pouted about them being called toys but had allowed John to make him to the statement.

It seems as though the entire world was trying to keep him from playing with his toys. This was a common thought among children of course, but no one ever claimed that Sherlock was ever mature.

It seemed as though John was determined that he actually do his job for once in his life but he didn’t want to. It was a common enough theme between the two of them but usually John wasn’t nearly this concerned about. Most of the time he would give up after a few failed attempts. This time though he wasn’t giving up at all, simply continuing the pushing until Sherlock actually did his work. It made Sherlock a little suspicious about his motives so he went ahead and did his work.

He completed all of the tasks set to him because John was more than accommodating to him and his moods. He put up with the irregular hours, the danger of being dragged along into cases and the annoyance of never having any milk or clean dishes. So, if John occasionally would pressure Sherlock into being a responsible adult was what made the doctor stay, Sherlock was willing to put up with it. Besides, there had to be a reason that this was happening and as long as John was keeping it a secret, it meant that Sherlock had a mystery to try and solve.

Eventually though, after his deductive abilities had gleaned all of the information that they possibly could  and it still wasn’t enough to figure out what exactly John was planning on doing so eventually he went right out and asked his lover. John looked uncertain for a moment and then sighed. He went up to his bedroom and then returned with a small envelope in his hands. Then he handed the envelope to Sherlock.

With a scrutinizing look at the doctor, Sherlock opened the envelope and looked inside. He was surprised to see that it contained two airplane tickets with their names on them. The tickets were for Nice, France. It had been a plan of theirs to have a real vacation for a while but they had never gotten around to it. He could see that the tickets were for a flight in only about a week and suddenly the pieces fell into place.

John had arranged for the two of them to take a vacation that was trying to get everything lined up. He was doing everything in his power to make sure that they actually got to take that vacation. That included making sure that everything at Scotland Yard was squared away and that they couldn’t be called in to do paperwork or a statement. He had also pushed the detective to take a few cases that he wouldn’t have otherwise taken so that they could say that they had taken those and couldn’t be forced to take others.

Everything that the doctor had done in the past few weeks was to make sure that this actually happened. Better than all of the gifts that he had received in the past few weeks was the effort for the two of them to have time to themselves. That, to Sherlock, was better than all of the toys in the world.


	29. Bad Weather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys are snowed it for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two days left after today. I don't think these are as well written as some of my others but here is day 29 - Bad Weather.

To say that Sherlock was unhappy with the weather would be a vast understatement. It wasn’t often that London got this much snow, but when it did, it seemed to linger for a ridiculous amount of time. Unfortunately, there was so much snow that they were basically snowed it for the day. That meant that a certain consulting detective was bored out of his mind.

He was currently standing at the window watching in disgust as flakes continued their downward descent to the street. Snow was falling fast, and it didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. He hadn’t bothered to dress. There was no point when the snow covered the streets and they probably weren’t going to be able to leave the flat.

The detective had thought about waking his lover but had then decided against it. There were very few days where John was able to have a real lie in, either due to his work at the clinic or his work with Sherlock. Add that to the fact that Sherlock had kept him up most of the night doing fun experiments and you had a very exhausted doctor. So, Sherlock allowed him to have his lie in, at least one of them weren’t bored out of their minds.

John slept for about another half and hour and soon he was rising from his bed. He had taken one look at the temperature and the amount of snow that covered the streets and simply pulled on his dressing gown and his slippers over his pajamas. Then he had silently made his way out of their bedroom to the living room. At the time, Sherlock was still sitting at the window watching the snow fall outside and wondering what he was going to do to occupy himself. There were a lot of things he had planned that he wasn’t going to be able to do now.

John gazed at his lover for a moment and then went into the kitchen to make a pot of tea. It seems that Sherlock was absorbed in his thoughts and he probably wouldn’t be getting any work out of him for the time being. Sherlock on the other hand had startled out of his musings. When John had started rustling around in the kitchen and realized that their flat was still fairly cold.

Deciding to rectify that he knelt down by the fireplace and began to prepare it for a fire. John left the kitchen to start a fire and noticed his lover already doing so and then he returned to the kitchen to make the both of them some breakfast. Once the fire was going and the tea was made, the two of them sat down in front of it to enjoy their lazy morning.

After all, just because the snow had changed their plans, it didn’t mean that they would waste the day. It was rare that both of them had nowhere to go and nothing to do and they were going to enjoy it. They began the day with cuddling on the couch. It wasn’t unusual for the two of them to just enjoy each other’s company but John had a few other things in mind for this day. There was a number of chores that the two of them had bene putting off for a while now, that really needed to get done.

One of those was going through and decided which books to sell and which books to keep. Sherlock mostly had reference books so that he could delete certain information but still have access to it. John on the other hand had books of every single genre that a person could imagine. That coupled with the fact that neither of them got rid of things on a regular basis meant that they had books in literal stacks.

They were piled up everywhere. There were shelves filled with books and since most of them were John’s, Sherlock had a lot of complaints about them. For a while John was simply rolling his eyes and ignoring the comments but now it was simply getting out of hand. So the two of them were going to go through all of the books and decide on which ones to keep.

That alone took several hours but it was well worth it when they had all of the books they were planning on selling boxed up and set out of the way. That meant that they could move on to the next chore the two of them had been putting off. Actually cleaning the entire flat. For months they had gotten by with a bit of dusting here and there and Mrs. Hudson’s vacuuming.

John set Sherlock to the floors while he worked on the general clutter and the dust that seemed to collect on every surface imaginable. That managed to take up the rest of the day and soon the two of them were collapsing exhausted and filthy on the couch looking over the fruits of their labor. It certainly did seem that they had managed to actually clean the flat. Something that hadn’t happened since John had originally moved in. The two of them laid on the couch for a while until Sherlock began to chuckle to himself.

“What,” John asked, looking over at his lover.

“I just can’t believe that I got up and actually thought that I was going to be bored today. I was looking out of the window at the snow and thinking about all of the things that I was going to be missing because of it and you managed to take my mind completely off of it. That is why I love you so much.”

John smiled at the sappy words from his lover and leaned over for a kiss. The two of them kissed for a moment, before they mutually agreed to take a shower. The kiss was all well and good, but honestly the two of them were so filthy that it was kind of disgusting.


	30. Resolutions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock was not the sort of person who made resolutions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is day 30 - resolutions and even though I don't think it is as good as some of my others here it is anyway.

Sherlock was not the sort of person who made resolutions. He had also been fairly relieved to find out that neither was his new room mate John Watson. He had very little patience for people who looked back on the year with regrets and promised themselves that they would do certain things the next year. It was foolish. If they really wanted to make a difference in their lives, they would do it in a present tense rather than in a future tense. It just irked him really.

John wasn’t the sort of person who went around and regretted the things that he had or hadn’t done. It was actually one of his best qualities. If he made a decision, he would stick to it. That sometimes was a bad quality if the person in question has a tendency to make bad decisions and not turn away from them but that wasn’t John. John always thought through each decision and made the best possible one that he could with the information that he had.

It was one of the reasons that Sherlock brought him along with him to crime scenes. He knew that if a tough decision had to be made, John would make it and he wouldn’t go around dilly dallying. Although John had a tendency to overanalyze the decisions he made he never really regretted them. Sometimes he regretted the way that it turned out due to circumstances outside of his control, but never the decisions themselves. It was one of the reasons that made them good friends.

That was one of the reasons that he was having a tough time with the regret he was currently feeling. The two of them had been on a case when John had been knocked out and sustained a concussion. Feeling as though he had failed his friend because he was the one who had pushed them to try and catch the suspect then instead of waiting. John had assured him that it was fine but the experience was still lingering in his mind.

He was not only finding it hard that he had made such a grave mistake that his friend had been injured but he was also feeling surprised that he cared so much. Never before had he been so attached to someone that he was upset if they got hurt ever before had he felt this overwhelming guilt for something that might not have been prevented anyways. After all, if they had waited, the events could still have played out that way simply at a later time.

John’s nonchalance was helping any matters. If the man had raged and screamed and demanded that Sherlock make it up to him he would have been able to deal with it. If that had happened than he would have been able to make it up to him and they would move on with their lives. Unfortunately, John wasn’t bothered about it seeming to come to the same conclusion that it wasn’t really Sherlock’s fault and it was driving the detective mad.

His mind seemed to linger on the event and despite John’s reassurances he couldn’t seem to shake the thoughts. It also seemed that was being confronted by the fact that not only did he care if his partner was mildly injured but also that he held the fear that he might very well lose him. That thought bothered him more than he would like to admit. Again, he had become much more attached to the doctor than he had thought that he would.

“Are you still on about that even inside of the warehouse?” John’s voice startled Sherlock out of his musings. He looked up at his friend and sighed wondering how it was that he could explain what it was that he was feeling. “I told you that it wasn’t that big of a deal. Besides that we don’t know that waiting would have had a better turn out. After all, he could have been even more stressed when we arrived and he could have shot me.”

Sherlock’s head shot up to look at the doctor at the comment and the look of horror he felt must have showed on his face. The doctor sighed and sat down next to the detective. Sherlock mulled over his words for a moment.

“You are aware that I don’t really have any friends. You are also aware that out side of my brother there are very few people that I truly care about. You are the one person in this world that I have discovered that it bothers me that you would be hurt because of me. Whether or not you say it is okay or that it wasn’t my fault, that still doesn’t change the fact that because you were with me you got hurt. I don’t seem to have the ability to process just how much I care for you.”

“Is that all,” John asked, his voice a touch incredulous, “that is the reason that you have been moody and ignoring me. Sherlock, that is what real friendship is. That is the kind of friendship that people search for throughout life and almost never find. You are distressed over something most people would be overjoyed to realize they had. Most people float through life not really caring what happens to their so called friends as long as it doesn’t affect them. This isn’t a bad thing Sherlock. Simply one that you have never experience.”

“Maybe you are right. I have read things about friendships that can stand up to terrible tests and come out intact. It could simply be that what we have is simply better than what most people have.”

John rolled his eyes at the slightly self-conceited argument but didn’t say anything about it. Sherlock made a humming noise as he began to go through and process all of this information. If this feeling wasn’t a bad thing than maybe he could find a way to not let it control him. Maybe it could have a good impact on his life. Especially if he resolved to never let it happen again.


	31. Last Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Sherlock reflect on the old year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is my lovely wonderful followers. The last in my prompts. Yay! I made it to all 31 days. That is 31,000 words by the way. Thanks to all of those who subscribed, gave kudos or commented. Here is day 31 - last night. On the last night of the old year. Happy New Year!

The new year’s party was in full swing by 11 pm. It seems that with the end of the old year and the beginning of the new that all of their friends were allowing their inhibitions to leave and were getting flat out drunk. Drinking wasn’t really all that unusual for the group but this year they seemed to be going for a record.

With the exception of one John Watson. He wasn’t partaking in alcohol this year as he had just returned from a visit to his sister who had once again put him off of imbibing. It seems that every year he went to visit her she went ahead and ruined the visit. Not to mention the fact that her resentment towards him had grown every single year. As he went on to become a doctor and then a solider. For a while it was alright because she never saw him.

It was hard to be resentful towards someone you never spoke to. Then he had come back to find out that she had left Clara and he had decided to get a bedsit rather than try and stay with her. When she had found that out it had bred more resentment. The crown jewel on their relationship though was when John had done fairly well when he was back in London. He was still working at the clinic and he was helping Sherlock to solve crimes. Suffice to say that it was a visit filled with shouting that had ended much earlier than he had expected.

Now he was home and torturing himself with the memories of their childhood wondering if there had been something he could have done that would have made it better. Although he was wracking his brain he couldn’t really think of something and all it did was make him upset. He wasn’t really enjoying all of his friends at their party and he would have rather not had any alcohol at all. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to happen with Scotland Yard’s finest.

He found himself hiding up in his own bedroom brooding to himself and think about his life in general. He should have known that the solitude wouldn’t last as a few minutes later Sherlock made his way to the room to try and find his errant lover. John had been up there for a while and he knew that the doctor had a tendency to dwell on the past. Sherlock peeked into the bedroom to see his partner sat on the bed staring into space. Sherlock knew that the visit to his sister had brought up a lot of bad memories and the fact that it was New Year’s Eve wasn’t helping matters.

“John are you alright,” Sherlock questioned his voice curious but not condescending. The doctor looked up when the question was asked and gazed at his lover for a long moment before responding.

“Honestly Sherlock, no I am not. It thought that I could put all that had happened behind be when I left my sister’s place but I just keep getting stuck in the past. I keep thinking that there should have been something that I was able to do, even though there really wasn’t. I don’t know how to do this and this year has been insanely tough for me. I just keep thinking about all of the things that I would like to change about it but I can’t. I don’t know what to do.”

“I don’t know how to help you John. I know that this year and the fights against Moriarty have been really tough on you. I see that your relationship with Harry has begun to degrade further every time you have made the effort to go and see her and no matter how cruel she is to you, you never stop going to see her. All that I can offer you is the support of us and me. I don’t know if that is enough for you. I am sure that this party isn’t really helping matters is it?”

“No, it is really not. I see my friends so happy together and so willing to celebrate the last year and all I can think of is how bad I feel. I want to be happy that they are happy, but sometimes I just have times when the only thing that I can feel is all of the bad things in my life. It also seems to me that none of them have been remotely encouraging of me lately. I seem to have become the butt of jokes as well.” Sherlock gave a frown at the thought of John being made fun of when he was such a wonderful person and wondered what he could do to help.

“What if we decided that we were going to acknowledge that this was a bad year and try to make the new one be a good one. I can’t help you change the past but I can help you make the future a little brighter. We can go ahead and plan a few events that you can look forward to that will be enjoyable. Maybe we could visit America for a while and see all of the sights. Or we can take a week off to go to the Manchester Medical Convention that you always want to go see.”

John gave a soft smile at his friend’s suggestion and leaned into the embrace that Sherlock had drawn him into and thought about the suggestion. As far as things went, it wasn’t that bad of an idea. If he had some things to look forward to then he may simply be able to ignore the past, at least occasionally. The more that he thought about it the more he like the idea. The two of them could plan a few vacations and do a few of the things that they always promised themselves they would. He looked up to his lover and nodded to signify his agreement just as the clock struck the new year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if there were any you particularly enjoyed if there are any that you think I should continue. There were several that I thought might be the lead in to some good multichapter fics.


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